Hi there,
I wonder if anyone could help with this.........
I'm trying to illustrate to some colleagues the importance of not interpreting
the results of statistical tests etc in the absence of common sense (and their
own scientific knowledge) with the use of some examples. I remember one lecturer
during my undergraduate degree quoting some results that showed a relationship
between increasing birth rate (or population) and an increasing stork population
in Finland/Sweden or some other counrty which, if I'm to believe everything I
was taught in biology, obviously isn't a causal relationship! I also have a
vague memory of a study showing a relationship between coffee intake and heart
disease. Subsequent studies revealed a missing causal link that increased coffee
intake was related to increased smoking and it was the smoking that was actually
linked to the heart disease.
(My memories of the above studies are a bit fuzzy and so the details may not be
entirely correct)
Does anyone know of any references/collections of these types of spurious
findings that they could point me in the right direction of or know of any other
infamous examples themselves????
Please send any responses to me at [log in to unmask] and I'll summarise
the replies to the list - it should make a good read!
Many thanks in advance,
JOY
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