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comment by am_Unition
am_Unition  ·  3034 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 'Mindless Eating,' or how to send an entire life of research into question

    p-hacking can be used for hypothesis formation, but it cannot be used as the test of the same hypothesis that it gave birth to. For that you need a separate data set.

The replication crisis is arguably centered around peoples' inability to grasp that very concept. You're pretty good at communication, though, that's one of the best ways I've ever heard it phrased.

    They contacted Wansink and asked him to share his data, but he responded that it wouldn’t be possible because the data contained identifying characteristics of the research participants.

What's this guy got, like, zero grad students? Is that even possible for someone remotely well-established? No, no, I don't think that's the problem. Guy's just a fucker. It happens.





user-inactivated  ·  3034 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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am_Unition  ·  3034 days ago  ·  link  ·  

"I can't imagine why you'd talk so much shit about social scientists." -no one in my life right now

Devac  ·  3033 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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kleinbl00  ·  3034 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I just read up on Wiki. They make it sound like data dredging is the act of not coming up with a testable hypothesis prior to analyzing data. That's like jr. high shit.

Are we really talking about jr. high shit?

am_Unition  ·  3034 days ago  ·  link  ·  

More or less.

    the act of not coming up with a testable hypothesis prior to analyzing data

Sometimes that's OK, but typically not when people are involved. Especially when "measurables" resemble "now tell me, Karen, how good do you feel about this economic transaction on a scale of 1 to 2?".

I'm actually finding it difficult to make more sweeping statements, here. Experimentation sucks like that. How about: Every experiment should be uniquely designed, while also testing every other experiment, all of which are infinitely replicable. For free.

Devac  ·  3033 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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