ChristianKl comments on Open thread, Nov. 23 - Nov. 29, 2015 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: MrMind 23 November 2015 07:59AM

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Comment author: ChristianKl 25 November 2015 11:48:05PM 1 point [-]

A study that relies only on self-reported claims of 'being in love' might be interesting to read, but such a study would be of higher quality if there was an objective way to take a group of people and sort them into one of two groups: "in love" or "not in love."

No, not automatically. An objective measurement can be both worse and be better than a self-reported measurement. There no reason to believe that one is inherently better.

Comment author: LessRightToo 28 November 2015 02:01:33PM 0 points [-]

New material added to this thread uses the phrase being in a relationship rather than being in love. I found the latter phrase problematic because it involves a poorly defined mental state that has changed meaning over time. The former phrase is objectively verifiable by external observers.

I have read a book or two on the Design of Experiments over the years purely for intellectual curiosity; I've never actually defined and run a scientific experiment. So I don't have anything worthwhile to say on the general topic of the relative value of objective vs. subjective measurements in scientific studies.