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Re: Even a test like that assumes Posted by TML [Email]  (#2212)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from TML) on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:54:58
In Reply to: Even a test like that assumes, Reality, Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:07:28 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
"1. Test subjects are not suggestable. Behavioral experiments are inherently highly "Heisenbergian": the observation/observer action influences the outcome."
Yes, that is something to be aware of. I don't think it means the test is completely invalid. There might even be ways to control for it that I haven't thought of, since I only spent two minutes thinking about it. You could pretty easily not make the drivers aware of what exactly is being tested.
"2. All drivers and driving conditions are the same. That is certainly not the case. Even the same driver can have very different response to the presence of a passenger depending on how many hours he/she has been driving (passenger is distraction on short drives, but a very good device for keeping the driver awake on long drives)."
This is a non issue. Driving conditions can indeed be made the same, within a very reasonable tolerance (technically speaking, no two things are ever "the same"). The drivers don't have to be the same. If you have a large enough sample size, it averages out. This is how they test medical treatments, among other things, even though everyone is not the same. I'm sure you know this.
"3. The default state of driving, in the absence of cellphone and passenger, is calm and collected without any time-target and without any destination like during the experiment. That is patently false. People drive in order to get to target locations, and usually with specific time target. The alternative to using a phone is not calm and collected driving like during the experiment but rushing to get to make appointment on time because of inability to inform counter-party about being late."
I'm not even sure what you're saying here. The first statement appears to be setting up a straw man that you then proceed to knock down. Your counter assertion about everyone always driving to get somewhere as fast as they can is just as absurd as the one you dismiss. Regardless of people's motivations for driving, or the "default" conditions in everyday driving, you can still control the variables and compare relative performance differences when altering one variable at a time. You're playing both sides against the middle here. On one hand you say any study is invalid because there's too many variables. Then when a method is proposed to isolate one variable, you suggest that it's invalid because maybe somehow all those variables interact and somehow produce a null effect in a real world situation. If that's really your position, then I submit that nothing in the universe can ever be tested (simultaneously too many variables in practice, too few variables under test conditions), we have no idea what's going on, science doesn't work, up might be down, and we're not even here having this discussion.
posted by 24.246.55...
, Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:32:40
, Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:43:48, Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:56:30, Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:36:50, Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:38:42, Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:22:31, Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:05:11, Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:04:22, Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:54:58 <-- Viewing This Message, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:42:45, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:01:15, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:01:53, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:36:40, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:48:41, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:36:11, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:39:06, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:31:03, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:45:45, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:56:05, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:57:39, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:33:06, Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:46:24
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