Opinions can not be trusted
August 14th 2009 04:28
Richard Smith, a British doctor and director of the Ovations program which fights chronic disease in the developing world, recently had breakfast in Bangladesh with an unnamed economics professor from Harvard University.
The conversation during the meal was hardly the mundane breakfast chat of the common man. What these two higher minds chose to discuss was the degree to which the findings of most scientific surveys around the world each year can be trusted.
The conversation started like this. "Economists pay no attention to what people say, only to what they do." It was the Harvard economics professor speaking, so he should know what he is talking about.
Dr Smith responded that he tended to agree. After all, he said, we all know that there is a big gap between what people say and what they do. "Consequently I’ve always been wary of surveys. The more I think about it, however, the more I think that we should ignore all surveys. Life is too short."
One can only wonder if these two venerable men had any idea what a dagger they were plunging into the heart of bloggers everywhere, for whom the results of surveys are a constant and rich source of material.
Whose opinion are we to trust now?
Source: BMJ Group Blogs
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