Prime Example Of The Problem With "studies"

[natedawggh]

Here is a "study" posted on the popular NCBI cite. Many people on this forum and elsewhere cite studies as evidence of certain ideas, but studies are usually just slightly better than educated guesses, and should always be filtered through experience, common sense, and healthy skepticism.

This study is a prime example of why this is (the conclusion of the authors, specifically)

Does the death rate of Hong Kong Chinese change during the lunar ghost month? - PubMed - NCBI

 

[tara]

Here is a "study" posted on the popular NCBI cite. Many people on this forum and elsewhere cite studies as evidence of certain ideas, but studies are usually just slightly better than educated guesses, and should always be filtered through experience, common sense, and healthy skepticism.

I agree, there is quite a leap from the results to the conclusion.
I think sometimes Peat refers to the results of studies as meaningful even when he disagrees with the conclusions of the authors. (He also considers whether the method was valid.)
Routinely taking conclusions at face value can probably give a pretty skewed view of some things.

 

[Such_Saturation]

I'm pretty sure it's in jest.