(Press-News.org) Scientific journals should insist on more robust experimental processes, say biologists after reviewing nearly 900,000 experiments.
The team found that non-blind experiments - that is, where scientists knew which samples they were recording - averaged a 27 per cent stronger result than blind trials.
However their review suggests that less than one in four experiments used blind data recording.
"We found that non-blind papers tended to exaggerate differences between the experimental group and the control group," said lead researcher Dr Luke Holman, from the Research School of Biology at The Australian National University (ANU).
"For example, a non-blind trial of a new drug might conclude that it is way more effective than a placebo, when in fact the drug's true effect is rather modest, simply because the researchers' expectations biased the results."
The paper is published in PLOS Biology at a time when experimental processes are under the microscope following increased levels of retractions and some journals are reviewing their peer review procedures.
In the largest study of its kind, the team analysed nearly 900,000 papers from the PubMed life sciences database, using automated 'data mining'. They also - in a blind trial, of course - compared 83 pairs of evolutionary biology papers on similar topics, in which the data was collected blind in one, and not in the other.
The team also found that non-blind studies rejected the null hypothesis more strongly, said Dr Holman.
"Non-blind studies more confidently concluded that differences between treatment and control groups were real, and not just due to chance variation."
Co-researcher Dr Megan Head, also from ANU Research School of Biology said self-reflection is important.
"Science is still the best method we have for understanding the world, and we have to keep working to make it better."
Dr Holman and his colleagues believe that journals should insist on blind trials more strongly, perhaps by making prominent statements to authors and peer reviewers about the necessity of using blind trials.
Scientists are aware of their biases, and use techniques such as blind trials to minimise them, but the pressure to get things done faster leads to some people skimping on experimental design, said Dr Head.
"It is not necessarily slower to take data blind, you just need to be a little creative," she said.
Dr Holman suggested better training is part of the solution.
"Many researchers are unaware that their expectations can introduce such strong bias, and so they don't feel the need to work blind," he said.
INFORMATION:
Long-time smokers and past smokers now have a more accurate way of detecting whether or not they have lung cancer thanks to a comprehensive lung cancer screening program that uses CT scan technology at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
The program is based on the findings of the National Lung Screening Trial, a study that compared CT scans and standard chest X-rays in detecting lung cancer. CT scans use X-rays to obtain a multiple-image scan of the entire chest, while a standard chest X-ray produces a single image of the whole chest.
Results from the study ...
An international team of researchers has discovered how legumes are able to tell helpful and harmful invading bacteria apart. The research has implications for improving the understanding of how other plants, animals and humans interact with bacteria in their environment and defend themselves against hostile infections. These findings can have profound implications for both agricultural research and medical science.
Their study, which changes the understanding of carbohydrates as signal molecules, is newly published in the leading international journal Nature.
Legumes ...
ORLANDO, FL - An athlete's use of silicone ankle sleeves (SAS) and lace-up ankle braces (LAB) during sports participation can improve neuromuscular control, according to research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL.
"Athletes often use prophylactic sleeves or braces, and this study used markerless motion analysis to determine whether these support aids are beneficial," said lead author Seth L. Sherman, MD, from the University of Missouri - Columbia Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
The study ...
ORLANDO, FL - Surgeons making reconstruction choices for an injured ACL can consider both bone-tendon-bone grafts and hamstring autografts as equally viable options in regards to healing, as reported in research today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL.
"We compared the graft-tunnel motion of patients receiving either kind of graft, and noted both groups had similar graft motion at six weeks and one year from surgery, both ranged between 1-2 mm," commented Justin W. Arner, MD, from the University of Pittsburgh ...
A new study by UCLA scientists adds to the understanding of the genetic architecture of schizophrenia.
Past research has shown the impact of commonly occurring genetic variants on a person's risk of developing schizophrenia. This new study focused instead on rare coding mutations that affect protein function. It found that patients with schizophrenia have a higher-than-normal share of these mutations.
"While we cannot point to specific mutations that play a causal role in schizophrenia, we show that schizophrenia patients collectively have more of these mutations than ...
More than a third of overweight or obese teenagers don't see themselves as being too heavy and think their weight is about right, according to a Cancer Research UK study published today in the International Journal of Obesity.
The study* used data from around 5,000 13-15-year-olds who were asked about their weight and if they thought they were too heavy, about right or too light.
Researchers then checked their answers against their Body Mass Index (BMI)** -- to see whether the reality matched the teenagers' perceptions of themselves.
Almost three-quarters (73 per ...
Public attitudes towards mental illness and levels of healthcare spending may explain the huge variation in antidepressant use across Europe, according to a new study by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London.
The study, published today in the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that antidepressants were prescribed more often and used more regularly in countries with higher levels of healthcare spending. In addition, beliefs that people with a mental illness are 'dangerous' were associated with higher ...
The UK government's investments in private hospital chains in developing countries, in the form of 'beyond aid' approaches, could actually be hindering inclusive development and need greater scrutiny, argue experts in The BMJ this week.
'Beyond aid' policies aim to address underlying causes of poverty, and focus on the use of loans and equity investments to support the growth of private companies. As part of this strategy, tens of millions of pounds have been committed by the Department for International Development's investment arm, CDC Group, to private hospitals and ...
CHICAGO --- A phase II clinical trial led by Northwestern Medicine investigators shows that a new psoriasis drug called guselkumab has greater efficacy than the current standard of care for the chronic skin condition.
In the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, investigators compared guselkumab to adalimumab, the most common medication currently used to treat psoriasis.
"Research like this study is leading to a series of new medications that promise high levels of response for an increasing number of patients," said first author Kenneth Gordon, ...
The cost of having a baby can vary by almost $10,000 depending on which hospital is chosen, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found in a study published in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs.
Childbirth is the leading cause of hospital admission in the United States, but there has been little research on the cost of delivery in hospitals across the country. To seek some answers, the Yale research team, led by Xiao Xu, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine, studied data from the ...
