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Comment by YeGoblynQueenne | Hacker News Reader

>> Requiring a higher burden of proof for findings that someone might be uncomfortable with is bad science.

That is not my comment. My comment claims that cultural bias can influence the result of scientific studies and we must be vigilant not to let this happen.

Do you disagree?

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Didn’t you say that one result as opposed to the other should be considered extremely suspicious and looked at again multiple times? Should the opposite result also be viewed this way?

I said that, yes. I didn't say anything about results that make people uncomfortable. Can you explain why you brought up the subject?

>> Should the opposite result also be viewed this way?

Does the opposite result coincide with a commonly held preconception?

I think what they are arguing is that, YOU are feeling uncomfortable with one of the results, and thus are biased toward exploring it more than the other which validates your views. You here are showing that bias again by saying that because the opposite coincides with commonly held preconceptions, it should be taken without as much scrutiny. If this isn't what you meant I apologize but that sure seems to be what you are saying.

It's very unpleasant to take part in an online conversation only for people to try to psychoanalyse you and discern hidden motives in your comments.

My comment says what I meant to say. What it doesn't say, I didn't mean to say on the subject. Responses to what I didn't say are none of my business and I won't bother with them any more.

> Does the opposite result coincide with a commonly held preconception?

The only reasonable answer is "It doesn't matter." As long as the result is reproducible, coinciding with commonly held preconceptions or not is of no relevance whatsoever. All results need to be equally validated for reproducibility.

You don’t seem to think bias is reproducible.

It is, but the scientific method is the best we have to eliminate bias. If the study design is sound and the results reproduce it is a fact. Now it may well be the study design is biased, but since it is documented anyone who sees a new bias is welcome to design a new study that eliminates that (I write this as if doing a scientific study is easy, in the real world it isn't but I'll ignore that real objection). There are also interesting meta-studies that eliminate some bias.

>> I didn't say anything about results that make people uncomfortable.

Perhaps you didn't realize that going against cultural bias (your term in another comment) make many people uncomfortable.

But what does that have to do with my comment? Did I say anything about making people uncomfortable?

> Does the opposite result coincide with a commonly held preconception?

Why should the result that goes against the commonly held preconception be under greater scrutiny? If any difference would exist in scrutiny, it should obviously ask more from a result that goes against the general preconception.

That is of course true.

What you might be missing is that the current leftist consensus dominating western universities is a strong form of cultural bias.

You're just stealing cows again, coming up with a clever argument against the studies you don't like while defending the studies you do.

https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/14/beware-isolated-demand...

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