How do people conducting meta-analyses deal with this problem? A few Google searches showed the problem being acknowledged, but not what to do about it.
I doubt there's a general solution open to the meta-analyst, since estimating systematic error requires domain-specific knowledge.
I doubt there's a general solution open to the meta-analyst, since estimating systematic error requires domain-specific knowledge.
I would expect meta-analysis to require such knowledge anyway, but I don't know if this is what happens in practice. Are meta-analyses customarily done other than by experts in the field?
How much confidence do you place in the scientific theory that ordinary matter is made of discrete units, or 'atoms', as opposed to being infinitely divisible?
More than 50%? 90%? 99%? 99.9%? 99.99%? 99.999%? More? If so, how much more? (If describing your answer in percentages is cumbersome, then feel free to use the logarithmic scale of decibans, where 10 decibans corresponds to 90% confidence, 20 to 99%, 30 to 99.9%, etc.)
This question freely acknowledges that there are aspects of physics which the atomic theory does not directly cover, such as conditions of extremely high energy. This question is primarily concerned with that portion of physics in which the atomic theory makes testable predictions.
This question also freely acknowledges that its current phrasing and presentation may not be the best possible to elicit answers from the LessWrong community, and will be happy to accept suggestions for improvement.
Edit: By 'atomic theory', this question refers to the century-plus-old theory. A reasonably accurate rewording is: "Do you believe 'H2O' is a meaningful description of water?".