MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T TRY TO PROVE SO MUCH.

MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T TRY TO PROVE SO MUCH. There is a tension between scientific research directed toward proof (for example by” gold-standard” tests) and tests directed toward making decisions about treatment in situations involving life, death and pain. I think my previous posts show my belief that there should be more studies which focus on collecting data rather than on proving hypotheses. Further, especially when the safety of a drug is not at issue, there are some medical decisions that should be made without scientific certainty. When researchers talk in terms of withholding what seems to be a promising drug just to try to verify a hypothesis, the goal of increasing scientific knowledge is being given too much weight. After all, an implication of the work of Professor Ioannidis is that even a “gold-standard” test does not provide certainty.