Posted by Larry Hoover on May 15, 2006, at 14:57:10
In reply to Re: Statistical question on SSRIs - ADDENDUM » Larry Hoover, posted by Squiggles on May 15, 2006, at 11:58:43
> Statistical significance is an advantageous and
> unbeatable weapon for the pharmaceutical companies. You cannot argue with statistical significance regarding the efficacy of drugs, or for that matter any other consumer product.Statistical significance is not proof of anything at all. One underlying assumption that never goes to zero is that the results are purely and entirely due to chance.
If you sample a population enough times, you can always find a significant result, no matter how absurd the hypothesis being tested.
Much of the research that has been published is not proof of anything at all.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:640557
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060515/msgs/644328.html