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Absolutely Maybe: Dec 2013 SciAm blog on uncertainty in the literature

WillowJ

WillowJ

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Absolutely Maybe
Evidence and uncertainties about medicine and life

Biomedical research: Believe it or not?
By Hilda Bastian | December 16, 2013

Attracting attention has never been a problem for this paper though. In 2005, John Ioannidis, now at Stanford, published a paper that’s still getting about as much as attention as when it was first published. It’s one of the best summaries of the dangers of looking at a study in isolation – and other pitfalls from bias, too.

But why so much interest? Well, the article argues that most published research findings are false. As you would expect, others have argued that Ioannidis’ published findings themselves are false.

You may not usually find debates about statistical methods all that gripping. But stick with this one if you’ve ever been frustrated by how often today’s exciting scientific news turns into tomorrow’s de-bunking story.
Click to expand...
continue reading:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com.../12/16/biomedical-research-believe-it-or-not/

NB: the others say the rate of false findings is lower, not that false findings and bias doesn't exist. It's a story about looking for bais, and how to use statistics (not overly heavy, though--you can always skip the stuff about p values if that's not your thing).
 
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