i almost wish the general public never really got wind of selection bias, cause at this point i feel like i hear more people misunderstanding how selection bias works and using it as a way to feel superior to studies, than judiciously using it as criticism when it's needed.
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No, selection bias is not a critical flaw of any study that has any nonrepresentative sample!
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Okay sure, but are those people you hear truly representative of the general public when told about selection bias?
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This is how I feel when talking to normie hippies about science in general
“Well yes Elandra, there are problems in science but it’s still a better way of knowing than your hand wavy mechanistic explanations”
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My biggest problem with studies at least in psychology and somewhat genetics is using people that are easily accessible (only people in developed countries). This is not a problem if you only say developed country people but they generalize to humanity.
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I doubt it would have helped. Those people would have just misunderstood something else in a way they think makes them sound smart.
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The "general public"? It is a critical flaw if youre trying to come to a conclusion about the general population but your sample size is just tech bros from
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Using common study limitations as "gotchas" to reject research findings is a big pet peeve of mine.
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This was apparent to me 30 years ago as I finished my PhD
doesn’t have to do a PhD to understand this.