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When deciding what research qualifies as "bad science," Eric, one may
want to consider taking the "follow the funding" approach.  As in, do
the people performing the study, setting the parameters for the
research, and interpreting the data have a vested financial interest in
the safety/efficacy of the product in question?  Do their bosses?  When
you start evaluating studies that way, you may begin to question your
own ingrained assumptions about reliability and trustworthiness of
certain agencies that we would like to think are above reproach...

 

I'm also reminded of an article that was posted on this listserv a while
back about the Skeptics Society "evaluating" traditional Chinese
medicine.  They very haughtily assured us that from their observations
of traditional techniques being applied in a hospital setting that
practitioners of acupuncture were crackpots.  This is an example of
"scientists" not following their own rules - traditional Eastern
medicine as practiced prior to the Communist Revolution was a
preventative system for maintaining health, not based on the Western
model of intervention for acute problems - these
Skeptics-with-a-capital-S basing their conclusion on observations made
in this setting would be kind of like me proclaiming that birth control
pills are not effective because I did not observe them stopping
pregnancy when administered to women in labor...and how scientific would
that make me? 

 

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for posting this, so before you
respond, please take the time to really think about what I'm saying,
which is this: we as scientists have to be especially careful that we
are following our own rules, identifying all possible contributing
variables before establishing causality, and not letting our own
assumptions, expectations, and ingrained attitudes dictate who we define
as the "crackpots" in any given situation (wasn't that very word applied
to Louis Pasteur when he first started babbling on about tiny invisible
agents responsible for causing disease?).   

 

Kasey Qynn Dolin

SOL Enrichment Coordinator

Outreach Education  

Science Museum of Va.

2500 West Broad St.  Richmond, Va 23220

(804) 864-1424

 

For monthly museum updates by e-mail: www.SMV.org\extra

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Eric Siegel
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 8:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Great Article on Bad Science

 

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers

Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.

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This article cites a number of studies on how bad science (like the  

conviction that vaccines cause autism) is spreading, and what it  

takes for people to accept good science.  It is a really thorny  

issue, as anecdotes are more compelling that the uncertainty of  

statistics, and good storytelling inevitably trumps real research,  

which by its very nature is subject to contradiction.

 

At the original link, below, there are lots of clickable links  

leading to the original research.

 

Eric Siegel

Director and

Chief Content Officer

New York Hall of Science

www.nyscience.org

(718) 699-0005 x 317

esiegel at nyscience dot org

 

 

ORIGINAL LINK:  http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080224-getting- 

the-public-to-pay-attention-to-good-science.html

 

Getting the public to pay attention to good science

 

By John Timmer | Published: February 24, 2008 - 07:15PM CT

 

 


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