Thursday, August 17, 2017

Op-ed: Writer warns most studies 'show whatever someone wants them to' - The College Fix

Op-ed: Writer warns most studies 'show whatever someone wants them to' - The College Fix:
"There seems to be an academic study for everything these days, and many seem like a total waste of time.
Take for an instance a 2016 study that delved into a “feminist glaciology framework for global environmental change research.” 
...Other studies state the obvious. 
Image result for Your Tax Dollars at Work SignA Brown University researcher was awarded a $5 million grant to discover frat boys drink more than their classmates and a 2016 study found business travelers enjoy their trips more when they wait less time in line. 
Who would have thought?
...“Hands down, the two most dangerous words in the English language today are ‘studies show,’ he writes.
From the article:
The world is inundated with the manipulation of flighty studies to prove some larger point about mankind in the name of behavioral science. 
Pop psychologists have churned out mountains of books proving some intuitive point that turns out to be wrong. 
It’s “sciencey,” with a whiff of (false) authenticity.
... Andrew Ferguson of the Weekly Standard studied behavioral economic studies and discovered many are done by grad students observing their peers doing trivial tasks. 
Then researchers draw hard conclusions from this. Rather than a study of human nature, behavioral science is, Mr. Ferguson observes, “the study of college kids in psych labs.”

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