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submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by dwazou@lemm.ee to c/science@lemmy.world
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[-] Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Hi, please, don't. These baseless "corrections" that are really just semantics aren't helping anyone, and just contribute to anti-intellectualism.

We know what an impartial sponsor is in the context of this study - it's a sponsor that doesn't have a profit motive.

Obviously humans are biased. Scientists know that. Scientists train on that concept from day one. Observational studies are hard to control for bias, but that doesn't mean the field of science is silly for trying anyway.

The placebo-controlled double-blind study is the gold standard of scientific experiment for a reason.

An impartial sponsor is not a sponsor that is inhuman and has no preconceptions. We all know that's impossible.

An impartial sponsor is one that does not have clear signs of partiality - like a literal profit motive. That's all.

Edit - and for the record, in science, everything requires study. If you want to claim that conflicts of interest are impacting scientific results, you study it.

That's what it means to be impartial. To not trust assumptions based on your preconceptions. Assume as little as possible, consider as many possible explanations as you can, and verify everything.

[-] p3n@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I guess I didn't communicate my point effectively. I wasn't trying to nitpick semantics. I was trying to say that people don't think critically because they assume impartiality.

If the first thing people did when they looked at a study was to ask what possible biases or conflicts of interest the sponsors have, then conducting a meta-study concluding that biased studies are biased wouldn't be news to anyone.

this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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