But I don’t agree with your presumption. Let me put it another way. Science matters most when it delivers information that is accurate and precise enough to be decision-relevant. Typically, we’re in one of a few states:
The technology is so early that no level of statistical sophistication will yield decision-relevant results. Example: most single-cell omics in 2024 that I’m aware of, with respect to devising new biomedical treatments (this is my field).
The technology is so mature that any statistics required to parse it are baked into the analysis software, so that they get used by default by researchers of any level of proficiency. Example: Short read sequencing, where the extremely complex analysis that goes into obtaining and aligning reads has been so thoroughly established that undergraduates can use it mindlessly.
The technology’s in a sweet spot where a custom statistical analysis needs to be developed, but it’s also so important that the best minds will do that analysis and a community norm exists that we defer to them. Example: clinical trial results.
I think what John calls “memetic” research is just areas where the topics or themes are so relevant to social life that people reach for early findings in immature research fields to justify their positions and win arguments. Or where a big part of the money in the field comes from corporate consulting gigs, where the story you tell determines the paycheck you get. But that’s not the fault of the “median researcher,” it’s a mixture of conflicts of interest and the influence of politics on scientific research communication.
The technology’s in a sweet spot where a custom statistical analysis needs to be developed, but it’s also so important that the best minds will do that analysis and a community norm exists that we defer to them. Example: clinical trial results.
The argument seems to be about this stage, and from what I’ve heard clinical trials indeed take so much more time than is necessary. But maybe I’ve only heard about medical clinical trials, and actually academic biomedical clinical trials are incredibly efficient by comparison.
It also sounds like “community norm exists that we defer to [the best minds]” requires the community to identify who the best minds are, which presumably involves critiquing the research outputs of those best minds according to the standards of the median researcher, which often (though I don’t know about biomedicine) ends up being something crazy like h-index or number of citations or number of papers or derivatives of such things.
It’s not necessary for each person to personally identify the best minds on all topics and exclusively defer to them. It’s more a heuristic of deferring to the people those you trust most defer to on specific topics, and calibrating your confidence according to your own level of ability to parse who to trust and who not to.
But really these are two separate issues: how to exercise judgment in deciding who to trust, and the causes of research being “memetic.” I still say research is memetic not because mediocre researchers are blithely kicking around nonsense ideas that take on an exaggerated life of their own, but mainly because of politics and business ramifications of the research.
The idea that wine is good for you is memetic both because of its way of poking at “established wisdom” and because the alcohol industry sponsors research in that direction.
Similar for implicit bias tests, which are a whole little industry of their own.
Clinical trials represent decades of investment in a therapeutic strategy. Even if an informed person would be skeptical that current Alzheimer’s approaches are the way to go, businesses that have invested in it are best served by gambling on another try and hoping to turn a profit. So they’re incentivized to keep plugging the idea that their strategy really is striking at the root of the disease.
I really feel like we’re talking past each other here, because I have no idea how any of what you said relates to what I said, except the first paragraph.
As for that, what you describe sounds worse than a median researcher problem, instead sounding like a situation ripe for group think instead!
Yes, I agree it’s worse. If ONLY a better understanding of statistics by Phd students and research faculty was at the root of our cultural confusion around science.
It’s not evidence, it’s just an opinion!
But I don’t agree with your presumption. Let me put it another way. Science matters most when it delivers information that is accurate and precise enough to be decision-relevant. Typically, we’re in one of a few states:
The technology is so early that no level of statistical sophistication will yield decision-relevant results. Example: most single-cell omics in 2024 that I’m aware of, with respect to devising new biomedical treatments (this is my field).
The technology is so mature that any statistics required to parse it are baked into the analysis software, so that they get used by default by researchers of any level of proficiency. Example: Short read sequencing, where the extremely complex analysis that goes into obtaining and aligning reads has been so thoroughly established that undergraduates can use it mindlessly.
The technology’s in a sweet spot where a custom statistical analysis needs to be developed, but it’s also so important that the best minds will do that analysis and a community norm exists that we defer to them. Example: clinical trial results.
I think what John calls “memetic” research is just areas where the topics or themes are so relevant to social life that people reach for early findings in immature research fields to justify their positions and win arguments. Or where a big part of the money in the field comes from corporate consulting gigs, where the story you tell determines the paycheck you get. But that’s not the fault of the “median researcher,” it’s a mixture of conflicts of interest and the influence of politics on scientific research communication.
The argument seems to be about this stage, and from what I’ve heard clinical trials indeed take so much more time than is necessary. But maybe I’ve only heard about medical clinical trials, and actually academic biomedical clinical trials are incredibly efficient by comparison.
It also sounds like “community norm exists that we defer to [the best minds]” requires the community to identify who the best minds are, which presumably involves critiquing the research outputs of those best minds according to the standards of the median researcher, which often (though I don’t know about biomedicine) ends up being something crazy like h-index or number of citations or number of papers or derivatives of such things.
It’s not necessary for each person to personally identify the best minds on all topics and exclusively defer to them. It’s more a heuristic of deferring to the people those you trust most defer to on specific topics, and calibrating your confidence according to your own level of ability to parse who to trust and who not to.
But really these are two separate issues: how to exercise judgment in deciding who to trust, and the causes of research being “memetic.” I still say research is memetic not because mediocre researchers are blithely kicking around nonsense ideas that take on an exaggerated life of their own, but mainly because of politics and business ramifications of the research.
The idea that wine is good for you is memetic both because of its way of poking at “established wisdom” and because the alcohol industry sponsors research in that direction.
Similar for implicit bias tests, which are a whole little industry of their own.
Clinical trials represent decades of investment in a therapeutic strategy. Even if an informed person would be skeptical that current Alzheimer’s approaches are the way to go, businesses that have invested in it are best served by gambling on another try and hoping to turn a profit. So they’re incentivized to keep plugging the idea that their strategy really is striking at the root of the disease.
I really feel like we’re talking past each other here, because I have no idea how any of what you said relates to what I said, except the first paragraph.
As for that, what you describe sounds worse than a median researcher problem, instead sounding like a situation ripe for group think instead!
Yes, I agree it’s worse. If ONLY a better understanding of statistics by Phd students and research faculty was at the root of our cultural confusion around science.