> D. Jay Newman wrote:
> > This is why I stated that the hypothesis is more difficult in such
> > studies. In many cases statistical studies must be made of large
> > groups of subjects. By doing this it is possible to test a hypothesis
> > to a given degree of precision.
> > 
> > Medical studies are generally *not* easy.
> 
> What if the number of potential test subjects in the world is smaller 
> than the number required for statistical significance?
> 
> What if it's one?
> 
> I think an increasing fraction of the medical problems we'd like to 
> solve are looking like that.

Trust me, I know this.

Unfortunately then we are down to modeling and our models aren't good
enough yet.

The scientific method is a tool. It cannot be used in all cases because
of the above difficulties. Once we get a better model of how biology
works, then we can use the scientific method to deal with one-offs.
-- 
D. Jay Newman           ! Author of: _Linux Robotics: Building Smarter Robots_
                        !
jay@sprucegrove.com     ! "Those who would give up essential liberty to
                        ! purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither
http://enerd.ws/robots  ! liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
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