I don't know William Easterly and the sign on the NYU DRI homepage says "Gone Fishing", so I can't ask whether he is serious or ironic or what (with some NYU faculty, it really is "What?"). I imagine that this has to be a joke on the use of convenience samples and the use of an outcome measure that is a constant (i.e., zero medals).
Perhaps it aspires to something like the critique of randomized trials in medicine which, one author has suggested, would argue against the use of parachutes because they have not been evaluated in "drug vs placebo" or "parachute vs no parachute" manner; see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC300808/ The basic argument seems to be "everyone knows that you'll die if you don't have a parachute, so a randomized trial of parachute vs no parachute is absurd." But isn't a better question whether there are differences between parachutes (i.e., treatments) or conditions under which one has to use a parachute (e.g., good weather vs stormy weather)? Perhaps the real question is whether the stupidity is in the research question being asked or in the person asking the question. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] ------------------------------- Original Message ------------------------ On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 08:21:05 -0700, Jeffry Ricker wrote: Hi, Two silly posts in 12 hours is enough. So after this one, I'll send no more for a while. This was a post on the web site of the "NYU Development Research Institute" (http://nyudri.org/2012/08/12/rigorous-ex-post-evaluation-finds-no-evidence-that-olympics-produces-olympic-medals/) 12 AUG Rigorous ex-post evaluation finds no evidence that Olympics produces Olympic medals Using data conveniently available from the Peruvian, Ecuadorean, Bolivian, and Chilean Olympic trials, the study compared athletes who just made the Olympic team with those who just fell short. This rigorous regression discontinuity design allowed the study to identify the effect of Olympic participation on Olympic medals. The study found on average zero effect of Olympic participation on Olympic medals. This study found no evidence that the Olympics produces Olympic medals. It is hoped that national sports federations will follow more evidence-based policies in the future regarding the Olympics. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19802 or send a blank email to leave-19802-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
