Thread: Deathgod will love this study

Originally Posted by deputyfestus

As long as you don't eat any form of seafood you should be fine.

Well my exposure is pretty small. If it isnt in a mcfish, long john silver, or a kobe lobster odds are ill never touch it.

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

What is Kobe Lobster?

A lobster at kobe steakhouse. That could have been a bit clearer.

Originally Posted by Red_Lizard2

ASU Research: Overweight Teenagers Have Fewer Friends | Phoenix New Times


What a shock! They also plan to research it in college freshmen too, which I'm sure will turn up muuuchhh different results /sarcasm

Seriously though, I know some really dumb sounding research has a point, but isn't this a bit too dumb? Can anyone explain exactly what the point/use of this study would be or why it had to be done instead of just skipping to the next part (the why)?

I can't "explain exactly" what the point would be because i haven't read the study (only the linked blurb - but if someone wanted to send me a link to the study I'd at least give it the once-over).

Not having read it hasn't stopped anyone here from pissing on the study (and the people who did the study, and the people who fund such studies, and probably baby pandas too), so I don't feel too guilty speculating on the other side.

There is a good reason to occasionally study things which seem like "Duh, no shit Sherlock" issues. There have been plenty of cases in history (including recent history) where something almost everyone took for granted turned out to be wrong. It's important to go back and affirm things. It's obviously possible to over-spend in this direction, but the occasional re-check isn't a bad thing. I don't think that's what's going on here, but I mention it for completeness.

Another possible reason to study this particular issue isn't to discover that the effect exists (which, also to me, seems like we didn't need Sherlock on the case), but to try and get a sense of the magnitude of the effect. So, "Yes", young people who fall far outside what most of society considers to be Normal and/or Attractive probably have more trouble with basic social interactions - but is that the biggest factor?

It makes complete sense to ask "how big an effect?" Measuring this effect can help understand other effects. The video blurb talked about social networks. They're asking more than just "do fat people have fewer friends?".

There are chicken-egg matters to address - are some people fat because they have trouble finding friends?

It would also (to me, at least) be interesting to sort out the size of the effect by looking at specific cases where someone gains (or loses) a lot of weight over a relatively short period of time (a summer, or a year). Is there a fat-stigma that sticks around after you lose weight?

That brings up a third thing: it seems like there is more going on in this study than the blurb talked about. I've worked on large studies, and some of the results you get are valuable because we already suspect they're true. Such a result isn't a goal of the study, but it's something that shakes out along the way which gives you confidence that your method isn't completely brain-dead. If I'm studying the economic value of education (how much you'll earn with a GED, how much with a BA or BS, how much more than that with an MA or MS, how much with a PhD....) and my data shows that people who drop out after 9th grade earn the most, then either (a) I've found something amazing! or (b) my data and/or method is fucked. The investigators in this case are building a network model of social interactions. They may have a long-run goal of measuring all sorts of factors and the extent to which those things play into the ability to form healthy friendships. They may also be trying to measure the value of having friends.

Cheers,


AetheLove

Well said Ae.


In other news a study of TPG posting shows, conclusively, that the same shit is taking place in threads now that was talking place in threads before my self imposed hiatus. No study dollars were wasted (or spent for that matter) performing this valuable research.
News at 11

Tappin dat talk