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Prevention programs and scientific nonsense

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Dennis M Gorman at Texas A&M University
Dennis M Gorman
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5/28/2016 Prevention Programs and Scientific Nonsense | Hoover Institution
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February&March2003»
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Saturday,February1,2003
D.M.Gorman
5/28/2016 Prevention Programs and Scientific Nonsense | Hoover Institution
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5/28/2016 Prevention Programs and Scientific Nonsense | Hoover Institution
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5/28/2016 Prevention Programs and Scientific Nonsense | Hoover Institution
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5/28/2016 Prevention Programs and Scientific Nonsense | Hoover Institution
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... )(Holder 2010) (Gorman 2003a;Gorman 2003b;Gorman 2003c;Gorman and Conde 2010;Gorman, Conde and Huber 2007;Gorman and Huber 2009;Ringwalt et al. 2011)(Melander et al. 2003)(Ioannidis 2005)).• Gandhi, A. . ...
... )(Holder 2010) (Gorman 2003a;Gorman 2003b;Gorman 2003c;Gorman and Conde 2010;Gorman, Conde and Huber 2007;Gorman and Huber 2009;Ringwalt et al. 2011)(Melander et al. 2003)(Ioannidis 2005)).• Gandhi, A. . ...
... "The Devil Is in the Details : Examining the Evidence for "Proven" School-Based Drug Abuse Prevention Programs." Eval Rev.• Gorman, D. 2003a. "Prevention programs and scientific non-sense." ...
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... De programansvarlige fremsatte ingen faglige begrundelser, men valgte i stedet et personligt angreb på Sommers under anvendelse af sprogets vaerste gloser. Hvis historien har vakt interesse, kan man laese yderligere herom hos Stanley Kurtz (2001) i National Review Online og hos D.M. Gorman (2003) i det konservative tidsskrift Policy Review. Gorman beretter selv om en nogenlunde tilsvarende oplevelse fra en anden konference, hvor han kritiserede et amerikansk program, der skulle forebygge unges brug af steroider. ...
... Det første paradoks handler om, at effekten af interventionsprogrammer af og til måles på andre kriterier end de kriterier, programmet selv definerer. Gorman (2003) naevner som eksempel effekten af forebyggelsesprogrammer over for misbrug og vold blandt unge, hvor evalueringer har fremhaevet de positive effekter af sådanne programmer. Gorman påpeger, at man ganske vist finder effekter på de unges adfaerd, men ikke på den adfaerd, der er relateret til deres misbrug og voldelige adfaerd. ...
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... There are now a good many published case studies documenting conflict of interest in this broader sense in many research domains, including HIV/AIDS (Epstein, 1996), tobacco (Cummings, Sciandra, Gingrass, & Davis, 1991; Glantz, 1996), sexual orientation (LeVay, 1996), intelligence testing (e.g., Fraser, 1995), drug prevention (Gorman, 2003; Moskowitz, 1993), risk prevention (Fischhoff, 1990), marijuana statistics (MacCoun, 1997), and global warming (Gelbspan, 1997). " Conflict of interest " can also be defined intrapersonally or interpersonally. ...
... Still, more detailed case studies of program evaluation practices leave little doubt that such allegiance effects do occur. In a series of papers, Gorman (1998 Gorman ( , 2002 Gorman ( , 2003) has documented numerous highly misleading statistical practices deployed by prevention program designers evaluating their own programs. Reported outcomes effects are frequently based on only a carefully chosen subset of the study population and the dependent variables. ...
Conflicts of Interest in Public Policy Research
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2005
In this essay, I discuss the difficulty of sustaining an inquisitorial system of policy research and analysis when it is embedded in a broader adversarial political setting. Conflicts of interest in public policy research exist on a continuum from blatant pecuniary bias to more subtle ideological bias. Because these biases are only partially susceptible to correction through individual effort and existing institutional practices (peer review, replication), I consider whether a more explicitly adversarial system might be preferable to the awkward hybrid that exists today. But there are important disanalogies between policy-relevant empirical debates and the kinds of conflicts we address with our adversarial legal system. If we are stuck with a muddled inquisitorial-adversarial hybrid, we need to encourage norms of "heterogeneous inquisitorialism," in which investigators strive for within-study hypothesis competition and greater clarity about roles, facts, and values. Abstract: In this essay, I discuss the difficulty of sustaining an inquisitorial system of policy research and analysis when it is embedded in a broader adversarial political setting.
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... Effektstudiene av LST har imidlertid vaert gjenstand for mange innvendinger, først og fremst av metodologisk art (Foxcroft 2006;Foxcroft et al. 2002;Gorman 2002;2005a;2005b;Brown 2001;Brown & Kreft 1998 (Gorman 2003;. ...
Artikel
Article
  • Oct 2009
H. Pape: School-based interventions that seem to work: Useful research on substance use prevention or suspicious stories of success? School-based prevention programmes targeted at adolescent substance use rarely seem to have the desired effects on behaviour. It is true that some outcome studies do conclude that such programmes have been successful, but they are relatively few and far between. Even so, one may ask whether the body of published research in this field may originate from unrealistic optimism due to publication bias and underreporting of no or counterproductive effects. Thus, anecdotal evidence suggests that the literature is biased in favour of studies with positive findings. Moreover, nearly all these studies have been carried out by programme developers, and it is well known that researchers with vested interests are more likely to bring “good news” than independent researchers. Indeed, rather than approaching the field with critical refelction, some evaluators have intended to prove that school-based prevention works and have conducted their research accordingly. Examples of questionable analytical approaches and selective reporting of positive findings are consequently not hard to find. The external validity of evaluation studies with favourable outcomes is also often questionable because they almost exclusively have assessed the effects of programmes delivered under optimal rather than real-life conditions. In conclusion, the empirical “evidence” in favour of school-based substance use prevention programmes is generally weak and does not allow recommendation of widespread dissemination of any specific programme.
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... Effektstudiene av LST har imidlertid vaert gjenstand for mange innvendinger, først og fremst av metodologisk art (Foxcroft 2006;Foxcroft et al. 2002;Gorman 2002;2005a;2005b;Brown 2001;Brown & Kreft 1998 (Gorman 2003;. ...
Skoletiltak som synes å gi effekt: Fruktbar forskning om rusforebygging eller suspekte historier om
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2009
H. Pape: Schoot-based interventions that seem to work: Useful research on substance use prevention or suspicious stories of success?.
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... Concerns about drug education though, are not limited to the impact of the programs themselves. Independent analyses, including those from the National Academy of Sciences (Manski, Pepper, & Petrie, 2001), raises concerns about the quality of the research (Brown, 2001;Gandhi, Murphy-Graham, Petrosino, Chrismer, & Weiss, 2007;Gorman, 1998Gorman, , 2003Gorman et al., 2007;Klitzner, 1987aKlitzner, , 1987bMoskowitz, 1993;Murray, Moskowitz, & Dent, 1996). This is seen in the previous example of LST and its major results purporting effectiveness. ...
The Social Psychology of Disintegrative Shaming in Education
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2012
Despite considerable research concerning drug education and zero tolerance policies, few have examined their combined youth impact. Comprehensive and nationally recognized mixed method evidence is drawn from 77 school districts and 118 schools in the Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Education (DATE) evaluation. For the first time it is found that the combined negative impact of traditional prevention and intervention efforts--e.g., Life Skills Training (LST) and zero tolerance policies-are so serious that they extend into the wider conditions of educational achievement. Findings are explained by the social psychological processes of "disintegrative shaming," where young people are to be shamed into abstinence and experiencing or witnessing school removal rather than help when needed. With more research needed the negative effects of traditional prevention and intervention-particularly salient among disproportionately affected urban/minority youth-suggest that related efforts be reconsidered together as well as part of mainstream education.
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... Similarly, Gorman (2005b, 42 ) has made the following statement on this theme: " If the field of drug education [...] is truly a science, it should be subjecting its predictions about the effects of intervention programs to genuine and rigorous attempts at falsifications and not attempting to verify these hypotheses " . He thus uses the concept " pseudo science " about some of the contributions in the field (Gorman 2003b;). ...
School-based programmes that seem to work: Useful research on substance use prevention or suspicious stories of success?
Article
Full-text available
  • Dec 2009
  • Nordisk Alkohol Nark
H. Pape: School-based programmes that seem to work: Useful research on substance use prevention or suspicious stories of success? School-based prevention programmes targeted at adolescent substance use rarely seem to have the desired effects on behaviour. It is true that some outcome studies do conclude that such programmes have been successful, but they are relatively few and far between. Even so, one may ask whether the body of published research in this field may originate from unrealistic optimism due to publication bias and underreporting of no or counterproductive effects. Thus, anecdotal evidence suggests that the literature is biased in favour of studies with positive findings. Moreover, nearly all these studies have been carried out by programme developers, and it is well known that researchers with vested interests are more likely to bring “good news” than independent researchers. Indeed, rather than approaching the field with critical reflection, some evaluators have intended to prove that school-based prevention works and have conducted their research accordingly. Examples of questionable analytical approaches and selective reporting of positive ifindings are consequently not hard to find. The external validity of evaluation studies with favourable outcomes is also often questionable because they almost exclusively have assessed the effects of programmes delivered under optimal rather than real-life conditions. In conclusion, the empirical “evidence” in favour of school-based substance use prevention programmes is generally weak and does not allow recommendation of widespread dissemination of any specific programme.
View
School-based programmes that seem to work
Article
  • Jan 2009
School-based prevention programmes targeted at adolescent substance use rarely seem to have the desired effects on behaviour. It is true that some outcome studies do conclude that such programmes have been successful, but they are relatively few and far between. Even so, one may ask whether the body of published research in this field may originate from unrealistic optimism due to publication bias and underreporting of no or counterproductive effects. Thus, anecdotal evidence suggests that the literature is biased in favour of studies with positive findings. Moreover, nearly all these studies have been carried out by programme developers, and it is well known that researchers with vested interests are more likely to bring "good news" than independent researchers. Indeed, rather than approaching the field with critical reflection, some evaluators have intended to prove that school-based prevention works and have conducted their research accordingly. Examples of questionable analytical approaches and selective reporting of positive findings are consequently not hard to find. The external validity of evaluation studies with favourable outcomes is also often questionable because they almost exclusively have assessed the effects of programmes delivered under optimal rather than real-life conditions. In conclusion, the empirical "evidence" in favour of school-based substance use prevention programmes is generally weak and does not allow recommendation of widespread dissemination of any specific programme.
View
Adolescent Mental Health. Prevention and Intervention
Book
  • Oct 2013
Adolescence is a period of rapid growth, maturing individuality, vulnerabilities and fortitude. Fortunately, most youths go through this period of life in a healthy way, but some do not. Adolescent Mental Health: Prevention and Intervention is a concise and accessible overview of our current knowledge on effective treatment and prevention programs for youths who have developed, or are at risk of developing, mental health problems.
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