This is so embarrassing
Sep. 26th, 2008 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustIn the wake of this year's GCSE results, Durham County Council has issued a press release claiming that as a result of their quote experiment unquote of giving fish oil to school children "there seem to be some very clear indications that pupils taking the supplement do significantly better" - or that's the opinion of Dave Ford, Head of Achievement for Durham County Council's Children and Young People's Services. Mr Ford goes on to concede that other factors, including the placebo effect, might be involved - as indeed they may, since the "experiment" did not include a control group taking a placebo.
Fortunately, Ben Goldacre kicks the shit out of DCC so I don't have to.
But I note that the Durham Times headlines the story (which does not - yet? - appear on their web site) "Fish oil experiment 'improves exam results'". Yup; that's what we mean by 'the placebo effect' - the fact of the experiment itself improves the results.*
*In fact their report doesn't actually claim that the experiment improved overall results, only that children in the experiment did better than some other similar children. But let's not spoil a good one-liner.
Fortunately, Ben Goldacre kicks the shit out of DCC so I don't have to.
But I note that the Durham Times headlines the story (which does not - yet? - appear on their web site) "Fish oil experiment 'improves exam results'". Yup; that's what we mean by 'the placebo effect' - the fact of the experiment itself improves the results.*
*In fact their report doesn't actually claim that the experiment improved overall results, only that children in the experiment did better than some other similar children. But let's not spoil a good one-liner.
