A New Study

You might read the news on your computer or your phone and see all these stories about new studies.  Many of these studies are things that people investigate in order to help others better understand humanity.  While I applaud the point of these studies, to better understand people, I am appalled at how the results are used.  I sometimes flip through parenting magazines while I'm waiting at the doctor or some place without my children.  There are studies in those too.  All these studies got me thinking, so I went to look at a few of them.  It's not easy to do.  If you investigate where these studies are being studied and look at the actual data you might stop reading the news about studies.  First, let me say that many of these scientific studies are actually surveys done by well meaning "soft" science people.  As an engineer I am a little upset by these being called studies.  What it is really is a survey and lets be honest how many people answer all survey questions 100% honestly all the time?  I'll tell you, it's not 100%. 
So, look at a study.  It's not easy to do, but you can sometimes find the source paper, make sure it's a study and not a survey.  If it's a survey you can probably just consider it interesting.  If it's a study, a real scientific study where they observe things and collect actual data look at the variables they use to come to their conclusion before changing your behavior.  Let me give you some examples.

Milk causes obesity in 74% of children.
 Really.  Ok, let's see, the study said that children that drank whole milk or 2% were more likely to be obese than children that drank less than two servings of 1% or skim milk every day.  Now, if you read the study they don't consider the activity level of the children, what else they eat, or any other variable that might impact obesity.  Hmmm.  Interesting isn't it?  So based on this study I should stop allowing my children from drinking 2% or whole milk, right?  Well, not so fast because some studies show that children that drink milk have better bone densities than children who don't drink 2%.

What's best in the study may or may not be what's best for your child.  My children are not statistics, they are children and so I am going to be their mother to the best of my ability.  So, next time you read a study realize that what's best in the study isn't really what's best in the real world.