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A Not-So-Fundamental Limitation on Studying Complex Systems with Statistics: Comment on Rabin (2011)
Although living organisms are affected by many interrelated and unidentified variables, this complexity does not automatically impose a fundamental limitation on statistical inference. Nor need one invoke such complexity as an explanation of the “Truth Wears Off” or “decline” effect; similar “declin...
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Published in: | Journal of statistical physics 2012-12, Vol.149 (6), p.1168-1171 |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Although living organisms are affected by many interrelated and unidentified variables, this complexity does not automatically impose a fundamental limitation on statistical inference. Nor need one invoke such complexity as an explanation of the “Truth Wears Off” or “decline” effect; similar “decline” effects occur with far simpler systems studied in physics. Selective reporting and publication bias, and scientists’ biases in favor of reporting eye-catching results (in general) or conforming to others’ results (in physics) better explain this feature of the “Truth Wears Off” effect than Rabin’s suggested limitation on statistical inference. |
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ISSN: | 0022-4715 1572-9613 |
DOI: | 10.1007/s10955-012-0647-y |