Thanks for bringing this up, I'd really like some statistical awareness to show up in science reporting.
> It needs to be explained how he determined that this isn't related to _why_ they are obese in the first place, i.e. whether these are purely correlational facts.
I would settle for a simple statement that "An extra 10 calories a day puts more weight onto an obese person than on a thinner one," all else equal or controlling for other factors.
So much of science is based off accepting statistical evidence, that it would be invaluable for science reporting to state, at least in laymans terms, the statistical veracity of results. In this case such a statement should be even easier since we're dealing with a theoretical model of obesity. Is there a coefficient for "current weight" that is independent of other factors?
Comments
Thanks for bringing this up, I'd really like some statistical awareness to show up in science reporting.
> It needs to be explained how he determined that this isn't related to _why_ they are obese in the first place, i.e. whether these are purely correlational facts.
I would settle for a simple statement that "An extra 10 calories a day puts more weight onto an obese person than on a thinner one," all else equal or controlling for other factors.
So much of science is based off accepting statistical evidence, that it would be invaluable for science reporting to state, at least in laymans terms, the statistical veracity of results. In this case such a statement should be even easier since we're dealing with a theoretical model of obesity. Is there a coefficient for "current weight" that is independent of other factors?