Alternative treatments in reproductive medicine. The vexing problem of 'seemingly impeccable trials...'.
The problem of 'seemingly impeccable trials' that produce unbelievable results is approached from basic notions of the philosophy of science: facts and theory are interdependent, and 'crucial experiments' do not exist. This does not lead to an 'anything goes' attitude, but obliges us to consider arguments and counter-arguments in the spirit of the 'crossword' analogy by Susan Haack. The role of editors and readers might be different: while editors might be under some obligation to publish 'seemingly impeccable trials', readers are not obliged to accept the findings.
Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, C9-P, P.O.Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. j.p.vandenbroucke@lumc.nl
Jan P
JP
Vandenbroucke
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018456:Reproductive Medicine / Q000379:methods*