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Re: how many know what double blind means?
Posted:
Oct 4, 2011 2:53 AM
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On Oct 4, 1:03 am, Bob Casanova <nos...@buzz.off> wrote:
> On Sun, 2 Oct 2011 20:23:19 -0700 (PDT), the following
> appeared in sci.skeptic, posted by Frisbieinstein
> <patmpow...@gmail.com>:
>
>
>
> >On Oct 3, 5:25 am, RichD <r_delaney2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> I was watching a "Bullshit" episode, some nitwit blithers
> >> about her chrysanthemum tea cure for rheumatism;
> >> "It works for me, first hand experience, that's what
> >> counts!" And Jillete responds "I'm so impressed by
> >> your double blind study"
>
> >> Which made me wonder... how much of the population
> >> knows what that is, what it means, and why?
> >> My non-double blind experience says, less than 10%.
>
> >I'd say that is about right.
>
> >> Is that a social or political problem?
>
> >Most people just aren't into thinking about things that abstract. On
> >the other hand, I think every college graduate should know this, and
> >that is not the case today.
>
> >> I think so, as
> >> gummit at all levels grabs and spends so much of
> >> our product - oops, I mean "invests" - and if the
> >> public, and our rulers, don't get it, that could engender
> >> tremendous wastage.
> >Every college graduate who intends to go into business should know
> >what basic statistics mean and the common errors encountered. Today
> >they do not know this. Most scientists also don't know. In this case
> >it is the fault of the college system. The teaching of statistics is
> >almost a complete waste of the student's time.
>
> I'd go a bit farther - Every college should require courses
> in statistics, elementary logic and civics before *any*
> degree is granted. That way the graduates will have been at
> least exposed to the knowledge of how to think, and how
> their society is intended to work; college shouldn't be
> solely a trade school. And I say this as one with a degree
> in engineering, which emphatically did *not* require any of
> these, but should have.
>
> Just my 20 mills; YMMV.
> --
>
Well yeah. Like I said, the way it is taught now is a complete waste
of time. If it were me the students would not do a single
calculation. Not one. For statistics it would all be concepts,
which tests to apply in what circumstances, where the common models
work and where they fail, and how to interpret the meaning and/or lack
thereof of the results. For logic it would all be finding flaws or
lack thereof in arguments in news articles, and constructing arguments
oneself. I don't recall having ever done much of that in school.
Civics was required in the 9th grade where I came from.
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