Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake

Re:Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake by 9935c101ab17a66 on Tuesday May 09, 2023 @08:58PM (#35882345)

I’m not a stats expert, but it seems blatantly obvious that subgroup selection could be inherently problematic because how do you choose the groups in an effective and responsible way?

I mean, just the statement

> no subgroup is inappropriate unless you know all the values of all the parameters

seems implausible and unlikely.

In the one stats class I took, we talked a lot about how selection bias was a huge concern. Why wouldn’t Subgroup selection bias also be a concern?

I dunno, maybe I’m wrong, but I’m dubious.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake by anonymouskimmer on Tuesday May 09, 2023 @11:30PM (#35883308)

I just ranted to the top two commenters so I'll keep this response brief.

Say in advance which parameters and subgroups you, as a researcher, care about in terms of significance. And keep your conclusions and discussions focused on the results for those groups. Report all of the other stuff, whether p-significant, or not, as supplementary data.

Hopefully, yours is not the only study that will use your data. Don't limit future researchers to your hypotheses.

[ Parent | on HN ]