Kershaw Jane <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > The first thing I want to point out is - you are making an absolute > statement when you say there are no absolutes. This is a self-refuting > statement. And, if you accept this point, then there is NO point in > doing any evidence-based research, Evidence-based research isn't about producing absolute answers. One of the really basic tenets of the hypothetico-deductive scientific method, Science 101, is that you can't _prove_ anything: that there are no absolutes. Results may support your hypothesis or not support it, but they don't absolutely prove your hypothesis. Conclusions are always a matter of weighing all the evidence and coming up with probabilities. This is why statistical results are reported in terms of their uncertainty, the likelihood that the result was obtained by chance alone. Growth curves themselves are based on probabilities, not absolutes. The 3rd-97th centiles depict the range of weights that 94% of completely normal babies will fall between. This doesn't mean that a baby outside those weights is by definition abnormal! There will still be six percent of normal babies that fall outside the 3-97th. Same with growth velocities, laboratory tests, everything we work with. In the case of a baby gaining less weight than average, the LC is in a position of deciding whether that baby is in trouble, or whether she is smaller than average by chance alone (i.e. whether she is the size she is "meant" to be). This means forming hypotheses, testing them (whether by history/examination/observative/deductively or by trying interventions). She weighs all the evidence together, she doesn't just take her growth curve in isolation and pronounce with absolute certainty that there is a problem. This IS the scientific method in action; it's not incompatible with science at all. Lara Hopkins family doc Down Under *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome