----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Donovan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Main Discussion List for KPLUG" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 1:45 AM Subject: Re: Anecdote & Data (Was Re: Walmart WAS: Re: Mini Poll- Burnout?)
> Andrew Lentvorski wrote: > > > David J. Looney wrote: > > > >> Studies from which you can draw > >> conclusions don't necessarily have to be randomized, blinded, and > >> controlled, but case studies need carefully chosen controls in order to > >> be meaningful. > > > > > > Not necessarily. > > > > Statistics is often used to tease out the independent variables in > > "messy" data. > > > > Much of the original AIDS work and identification was done in this way. > > > > It is less reliable, but sometimes you need an answer *now*. Waiting > > was unacceptable. People began forming hypotheses and adjusting > > behavior long before people knew exactly what was going on. > > > > As better data came in, they narrowed their predictions and hypotheses. > > > > The problem I have with medical "science" is not that they work with > > sloppy data. The problem I have is that they don't continuously > > recheck their hypotheses as new and better data come in. Often, > > conclusions drawn on fairly thin evidence become embedded as facts in > > the medical community. > > > > -a > > > > > A fact to which even Galen of Purgamom could attest, albeit postumously. > > RD > > Would that be Pergamom, a ancient city in Turkey ? I think Galen had his " clinic " there. dee > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.6.2 - Release Date: 6/4/2005 -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
