“For unsolved problems, you can only find the correct causative variable with a “firehose of information.” Then you can go on to prove you’re right via a properly controlled experiment.”
That second part often doesn’t happen. For [bio]medical experiments it is just too expensive. Datamning ensues and any significant p value variables are then published. The medical journals are rife with this which is one reason 30-50% of medical research proves unrepeatable.
Never underestimate human nature to do the easiest thing rather than the correct one. Science can be painstakingly hard to get right, but the pressures to publish are high. I’ve seen it first hand in biotech, where the obvious questions to ask of the “result” were ignored.
I also am in biotech, and I agree these problems exist.
One way of making use of the “firehose of information” in biotech would be to insist that researchers publish their raw datasets, and provide additional supplementary information along with their paper. Imagine, for example, if researchers doing animal work were required to film themselves doing it and post the videos online for others to review. I think it’s easy to see how that would be a helpful “firehose of information” and would do a lot to flesh out the picture given by the normally reported figures in a publication.
I think you’re worried about people switching from hard analysis to squishier qualitative data, perhaps because resources are already so constrained that it feels like “one or the other.” I think John’s saying “why not both?”
“For unsolved problems, you can only find the correct causative variable with a “firehose of information.” Then you can go on to prove you’re right via a properly controlled experiment.”
That second part often doesn’t happen. For [bio]medical experiments it is just too expensive. Datamning ensues and any significant p value variables are then published. The medical journals are rife with this which is one reason 30-50% of medical research proves unrepeatable.
Never underestimate human nature to do the easiest thing rather than the correct one. Science can be painstakingly hard to get right, but the pressures to publish are high. I’ve seen it first hand in biotech, where the obvious questions to ask of the “result” were ignored.
I also am in biotech, and I agree these problems exist.
One way of making use of the “firehose of information” in biotech would be to insist that researchers publish their raw datasets, and provide additional supplementary information along with their paper. Imagine, for example, if researchers doing animal work were required to film themselves doing it and post the videos online for others to review. I think it’s easy to see how that would be a helpful “firehose of information” and would do a lot to flesh out the picture given by the normally reported figures in a publication.
I think you’re worried about people switching from hard analysis to squishier qualitative data, perhaps because resources are already so constrained that it feels like “one or the other.” I think John’s saying “why not both?”