Oxford Neuroscientist Prof. Dorothy Bishop, or DeevyBee as she is known on Twitter has performed an amazing open access lecture focusing largely on the misunderstanding of neuroscience […]
The talk begins with a reasoned explanation of how and when we should be sceptical of neuroscience research, Bishop goes on to cite 4 key reasons why certain kinds of scientific research will inevitbaly [sic] result in false-positives:
“The four horseman of the apocalypse”
Maturation – People develop naturally over time. […]
Practice effects – when people keep doing the same test again and again, they get better at it. […]
Regression to the mean - a statistical artefact of longitudinal studies that is exacerbated if you select participants on the basis of a low score on a test (for example participants with developmental difficulties). […]
The placebo effect. This is the obvious consideration that continues to impact poorly designed research but according to Bishop, the three issues listed above could actually be having an even greater impact than the placebo effect.
The Solution?
Bishop explains that a control group is vital in order to achieve valid findings, but a control group alone is not enough, we should also be asking questions such as:
• Are the groups randomly assigned – or is there some other factor at play?
• Is the control group given an alternative treatment? If not, why not?
• What causes drop out? People don’t tend to drop out at random and this can have a very big effect on results.
Like all branches of science, it’s important that the scientific method is applied appropriately.