Nov 7, 2015 07:21 PM
Statbusters: Games people play with the placebo effect
http://junkcharts.typepad.com/numbersrul...ffect.html
EXCERPT: In the first two chapters of Numbersense, I discuss how people game statistics, and why gaming is inevitable. I have also written about the placebo effect before. Another article has appeared covering the same topic -- the industry doesn't like the fact that more and more drugs fail to clear the "placebo" hurdle; and the industry thinks the problem is that the placebo effect is mysteriously increasing over time.
What is new in that BBC News item is the extensive conversations with people who run clinical trials. They reveal a variety of tricks they use to game the numbers. Read our latest Statbusters column in the Daily Beast here....
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Return of the rabbit ears
http://observationalepidemiology.blogspo...-ears.html
EXCERPT: I've gotten way behind on the over-the-air television/terrestrial superstation story. For example, I missed this very good LA Times piece by Stephen Battaglio [...] I'll be revisiting this later but for now here's a short excerpt and a few brief comments.
Other media companies have also turned to classic TV as a low-cost programming solution for multicast channels, which now reportedly take in more than $250 million a year in ad revenue....
http://junkcharts.typepad.com/numbersrul...ffect.html
EXCERPT: In the first two chapters of Numbersense, I discuss how people game statistics, and why gaming is inevitable. I have also written about the placebo effect before. Another article has appeared covering the same topic -- the industry doesn't like the fact that more and more drugs fail to clear the "placebo" hurdle; and the industry thinks the problem is that the placebo effect is mysteriously increasing over time.
What is new in that BBC News item is the extensive conversations with people who run clinical trials. They reveal a variety of tricks they use to game the numbers. Read our latest Statbusters column in the Daily Beast here....
- - - - - - - -
Return of the rabbit ears
http://observationalepidemiology.blogspo...-ears.html
EXCERPT: I've gotten way behind on the over-the-air television/terrestrial superstation story. For example, I missed this very good LA Times piece by Stephen Battaglio [...] I'll be revisiting this later but for now here's a short excerpt and a few brief comments.
Quote:"Unplug your cable system and find MeTV, which stands for Memorable Entertainment Television. The network airs hits such as "M*A*S*H," "Bonanza" and "Star Trek," and averages about 521,000 viewers in daytime — higher than all but nine national cable networks. From 5 to 11 p.m., MeTV ranked 20th with 667,000 viewers compared with those networks."
Other media companies have also turned to classic TV as a low-cost programming solution for multicast channels, which now reportedly take in more than $250 million a year in ad revenue....