Confirmation bias
From the Waikato Times, two quotes from a story on emergency services
He would not comment on what motivated the fracas or whether it was gang-related.
“We’re not jumping to conclusions.”
and
Though science dismisses any link between human behaviour and the moon, it’s cold comfort for hospitality staff and emergency workers who say the amount of trouble often spikes when the moon is at its brightest.
Ms Gill said staff reported that “the full moon often has an impact on the nature of presentations through ED”.
Science doesn’t dismiss a link. There’s nothing unscientific about the idea of a link. It’s just that people have looked carefully and it’s not true.
(via @petrajane)
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »