explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3077: de Sitter

2025-04-17T07:21:02Z

162.158.90.137: ads/cft correspondence

the titletext still needs an explanation, but i'm not sure i get the connection to conformal field theory; i suspect it has to do with the explosive rate at which hyperolic space seems to "expand" when travelled through, as a pun on the club expanding at a similar rate? - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 07:01, 17 April 2025 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.137|162.158.90.137]] 07:21, 17 April 2025 (UTC) I think it's alluding to {{w|AdS/CFT correspondence}}, which I think is a string theory thing.

2727: Runtime

2023-01-21T02:28:52Z

162.158.90.137: /* Transcript */ cat from title text

{{comic
| number = 2727
| date = January 20, 2023
| title = Runtime
| image = runtime_2x.png
| imagesize = 399x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = At least there's a general understanding all around that Doctor Who is its own thing.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by EIGHT BAD MOVIES - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Two situations are depicted between White Hat and Cueball.]
:[Situation 1:]
:White Hat: You should keep watching! After the first season it gets really good.
:Cueball: Oh yeah, I've heard that!
:[Situation 2:]
:White Hat: You should keep watching! After the first 8 movies, they get really good.
:Cueball: Haha, what? I'm not going to sit through '''''eight''''' bad movies!
:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's weird how it's way more normal and socially acceptable to suggest someone spend 10-15 hours watching something when it's TV rather than movies.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]

2727: Runtime

2023-01-21T02:28:04Z

162.158.90.137: /* Transcript */ cats

2726: Methodology Trial

2023-01-19T05:15:44Z

162.158.90.137: /* Transcript */ cat

{{comic
| number = 2726
| date = January 18, 2023
| title = Methodology Trial
| image = methodology_trial_2x.png
| imagesize = 339x459px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you think THAT'S unethical, you should see the stuff we approved via our Placebo IRB.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PLACEBO RESEARCHER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

When testing the efficacy of a potential medical treatment, researchers compare subjects who got the treatment against subjects who got a {{w|placebo}}. Usually each subject does not know whether they received the treatment or placebo. This distinguishes the actual effects of the treatment from the effects of simply participating in a study. People who receive a placebo (or an ineffective treatment) often believe their treatment is working due to such causes as paying more attention to one's health or expecting to feel better. This misattribution of effect to a non-treatment is called the "placebo effect".

In this comic a team of researchers appears to have studied some medical treatment, using a placebo controlled test. When they present their findings, however, it is revealed that the treatment they were given was also a placebo. Their own study was the subject of a placebo controlled test conducted on their methodology. They were the placebo group, while a different team studied the real treatment. Thus, all of their findings were due to the placebo effect, instead of any real merit to the treatment, meaning that their methodology shouldn't be used for any real world applications.

The particular flaw in the methodology appears to be dividing their subjects into too many sub-groups in order to get an apparent result. The researcher did find significance in one sub-group, even though in reality there was no signal, just noise, since it was all placebo groups. This references the same p-hacking problem as [[882: Significant]]. Only in this case the researcher themself is the subject of the real trial.

Treatments ''can'' be more effective on specific subgroups of the population; for example, an anti-cancer drug might only work against specific mutations that cause cancer. But any such result needs to have appropriate statistical significance and new subjects from that subgroup should be tested to ensure the result is repeated.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands in front of a poster holding a pointer. The poster shows a scatter plot with four points and error bars, with one data point labeled "Subgroup" is marked with an asterisk and is placed somewhat higher up than the other three points.]
:Cueball: However, we see clear evidence that the treatment is more effective than the placebo for some subgroups.
:Off-panel voice: Thank you.
:Off-panel voice: However, we can now reveal that the '''''London''''' team was studying the real treatment. Both groups in your study got a placebo.
:Cueball: Aw, '''''maaan...'''''
:[Caption below panel]
:Researchers hate it when you do placebo controlled trials of their methodology.

:[Cueball is presenting some data to people off-panel. He has a pointer raised to indicate a graph showing four subgroups, the rightmost of which is visibly raised in comparison to the others, its lower interval rising above the x-axis.]
:Cueball: However, we see clear evidence that the treatment is more effective than the placebo for some subgroups.
:Voice from off-panel: Thank you
:Voice from off-panel: However, we can now reveal that the ''London'' team was studying the real treatment. Both groups in your study got a placebo.
:Cueball: Aw, ''maaan...''

:[Caption below the panel]:
Researchers hate it when you do placebo controlled trials of their methodology.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

2659: Unreliable Connection

2023-01-13T07:43:56Z

162.158.90.137:

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