What's the problem with double-blind testing? Options

[mirrorsawlljk]

I happened to pick up an issue of stereophile at a record store I visited and I was pretty shocked to see a seemingly intelligent person in the correspondence section bashing double blind testing as being unreliable. I'm afraid I don't understand his angle of attack. I don't see how anything could be a more reliable test of sound quality differences than a properly conducted double blind listening test.

I'm almost afraid to read the rest of the magazine if this is the kind of letter they think is worth publishing. Is there an audio magazine that isn't filled with this kind of thinking?

[KikeG]

The "goosebump", emotional factor can be caused by placebo effect, you can't be sure that is not the cause. People has used same principle (emotional response and the like) to say cables sound different, for example.

You can do long-term blind tests too, not just the quick-switch, short snippet, typical abx test.

This post has been edited by KikeG: Oct 19 2005, 11:55

[Donunus]

The "goosebump", emotional factor can be caused by placebo effect, you can't be sure that is not the cause. People has used same principle (emotional response and the like) to say cables sound different, for example.

You can do long-term blind tests too, not just the quick-switch, short snippet, typical abx test.

What do you mean by long term abx? how do I do this? Play entire songs? actually can you give me a link that explains placebo. thx

[kjoonlee]

actually can you give me a link that explains placebo. thx

The word placebo, when used in audio circles, is a little different from the medical term, where people can actually benefit a little from dummy treatments.

According to ff123, it's closer to expectation bias, where a person's expectation can influence his perception, if I understand correctly.