Are 'Studies' Useless?

[Trivun]

Oh my God, Eggo was banned permanently? This just doesn't seem real, usually he just bounces back again after a week or so...

As for the topic, weren't most of the "studies" posted today all posted by one person, who seemed to think his PS3 shouldn't be used for games because they corrupt the mind?

Studies on the whole can be quite interesting, and when done in a worthwhile toic and proper statistical analysis is used I agree that studies are good. However, what a lot of people fail to realise is that studies into things are often biased. Plus, they are sometimes used to make false claims. For example, evidence could be found that shows that people eat more chocolate during winter. Someone could then use that evidence to say that winter makes people eat more chocolate, and claim winter as the actual reason. However, there may be no evidence linking the two. A claim is simply made as an assumption based on limited evidence. This is seen a lot in statistics, hence the quote about "three types of lies: Lies, Damned lies and Statistics". We just need to look at studies of this kind with an open mind and decide for ourselves whether there is bias, whether there is enough evidence for claims, and then decide what we should think ourselves.

 

[new_age_reject]

The problem with most of the studies is that they show correlational evidence as conclusive evidence, they shouldn't do that.

 

[Lord George]

Without these studies what are sociologists meant to do with their lives

 

[Avida]

No, but if they hit public attention it will always be showing them in their most useless light.

 

[Archemetis]

"French scientists have finally discovered why chips/fries smell so darn good!"

That, right there is an actual headline from an article that I read somewhere...

Are studies useless? Only if they're studying things no one ever thought about, ever.

If there was a successful study into say, the prevention of animals dying out, or a way to presserve the planet in the state it's in and never see it decline.

Or even an obvious one, like curing cancer and such.

Theyr'e not useless, but when studies are conducted to find out something stupid like why chips smell good, then it becomes useless.

"Studies indicate that 9/10 people won't care about what we've just researched."

 

[Good morning blues]

The problem with most of the studies is that they show correlational evidence as conclusive evidence, they shouldn't do that.

No reliable study does this. It is reporting on the studies that does this.

 

[insectoid]

You could argue anything is useless really...

 

[letsnoobtehpwns]

Recent studies show that after playing one match on Gears of War 2, I want to run about chainsawing everyone I see. Of coarse those video game studies are useless, they just make you fat for not wanting to go outside.

 

[SimuLord]

Psychology itself is pseudoscientific garbage, so it stands to reason that psychological studies must by extension be pure bullshit as well. There are entire academic disciplines awarding advanced degrees in not knowing what you're talking about, calling themselves "social sciences", which is an oxymoron. (and no, I'm not a Scientologist, I don't like their viewpoint on the subject either.)

 

[Dr. Crowbar]

There was a newspaper article a couple of years ago where I live about a kid being lost in the woods, and running into an elk. He survived by playing dead, and when they asked the kid why he had thought to do that, he said that he learned it on World of Warcraft. So games actually got some good publicity around here for a while.. I guess people didn't realize that he could just as easily have learnt it from his dog.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

it depends on the study and size of the pool, such as this http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.86570#1284268

so yes they can be useful but there's a lot of time they aren't very well done or at least reported

 

[Rodger]

Studies aren't useless. While all of these violent video game studies provide some data, they don't really look at the bigger picture. A more reliable study would try to eliminate any other factors like, for example, the amount of responsibility the parents take for disciplining their child. In another recent example researchers tried to claim that even diet soda could make you fat, but then admitted that they didn't eliminate people who snacked AND drank diet soda from the equation. Consider for a moment that diet coke is the most ordered drink at places like McDonalds and you see how fast that research falls apart. It still got plenty of media attention and convinced most of my family that all soda was bad for a while.

 

[This-is-Hip-Hop]

Can you imagine if we took all the money that we waste figuring out that violent video games are violent and redirected it to worthy research like genetic research which could wipe out diseases like cancer and create grains and vegetables that grow and thrive in arid regions?

Though the thought would be nice, all the money to solve all the worlds major problems. We can not forget that money does not make all things go faster, we can not just throw money wildly at any given project and hope that the project's research will come to a conclusion in two years instead of 200.

But, we should also be sure to make the next generation is safe enough to lead, because if you think about it.

Whats the point of curing diseases if we have a chance of all becoming crazy because we played too many viloent video games? Though like I said earlier, "Psychological studies always have exceptions"

 

[Jackson - Deathclaw]

how about a study that revealed strippers and lapdancers are paid more while they are ovulating

god i wish i was joking

 

[Joselyn]

A load of poppycock!