neq1 comments on Error detection bias in research - Less Wrong

54 Post author: neq1 22 September 2010 03:00AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (36)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: neq1 22 September 2010 10:56:01AM 3 points [-]

In cases where a scientist is using a software package that they are uncomfortable with, I think output basically serves as the only error checking. First, they copy some sample code and try to adapt it to their data (while not really understanding what the program does). Then, they run the software. If the results are about what they expected, they think "well, we most have done it right." If the results are different than they expected, they might try a few more times and eventually get someone involved who knows what they are doing.