Five rules for good science (and how they can help you spot bad science)

September 22, 2023

I have a few rules that I aim to use when I run studies. By considering what it looks like when these rules are inverted, they also may help guide you in thinking about which studies are not reliable. (1) Don't use a net with big holes to catch a small fish That means you should use a large enough sample size (e.g., number of study participants) to reliably detect whatever effects you're looking for! (2) Don't use calculus to help you assemble IKEA furniture That means...

Everyone Misspeaks, So Watch Out For Cherry Picking

August 26, 2020

Obvious but often forgotten: everyone misspeaks sometimes. We all sometimes say things that: don’t make much sense we realize we don’t agree with (after a moment of reflection) are based on misremembering facts sound different than what we meant High stress situations tend to increase those effects. An interesting implication: anyone on TV, or who is otherwise recorded enough times, will be found making the mistakes mentioned above. So people can cherry pick examples t...

When Fallacies Aren’t Fallacies

July 4, 2020

Something rarely discussed that's important to recognize about "logical fallacies": in real-world situations, most of them are only SOMETIMES fallacies. Here are a bunch of examples: (1) Appeal to authority: some authorities ARE reliable. For example, ask a physicist about a well-established idea in physics, and you'll likely get the right answer. (2) Bandwagon effect: lots of people believing something often is evidence for it being true. For example, lots of people saying they heard ...