Guest guest Posted November 15, 2003 Report Share Posted November 15, 2003 Marco, > Less I am mistaking Birch has done a Ph.d Somewhere in England with regard > to research and TEAM (Ken is this so?) It was competed at Exeter University in the UK. >And if so how can I get hold of it? Most academic libraries can provide re-prints or microfilm of doctoral theses. You might have to pay for copying. It is a highly technical document, some of which I cannot claim to have fully understood. In brief, Steve's thesis is that because acupuncture functions at levels of stimulus lower than those that stimulate the nervous system, research methods like sham acupuncture, placebo needle, etc. are non- neutral and will skew the research results against acupuncture efficacy. In other words, these approaches (which are largely meant to reduce the cost of research) are biased by their assumptions. There are also biases implicit in the assumptions about blinding. What Steve suggests is a three group research structure where in addition to a control group, there are two treatment groups. One treatment group receives the actual treatment tested the other receives a treatment for another condition ( " the irrelevant treatment " ) both of which are carried out by skilled acupuncturists (not unskilled research assistants) intent upon delivering therapy. This eliminates the research biases implicit in sham acupuncture and in associated blinding schemes and leaves the acupuncturists unhindered in performing treatment. Bob bob Paradigm Publications www.paradigm-pubs.com P.O. Box 1037 Robert L. Felt 202 Bendix Drive 505 758 7758 Taos, New Mexico 87571 --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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