There is a pseudo-scientific test, which I have experienced, in which reaction to some claimed health-affecting food or technology by the muscles used in holding an arm extended horizontally, can indicate the efficacy and the value to, or the need of, the subject to the test object. One example description of the arm muscle test, from the pseudo-scientific Applied Kinesiology, can be found here. There are some wrong practices, in terms of clinical experimentation, in this, that allows bias to skew the results from a desired true indication of muscle reaction to environmental stimuli.
The first is that the test is not double-blind. Both the experimenter, the one pressing down on the out-stretched arm, and the subject, the one stretching out the arm, see, and can know, against what the test is. This knowledge can bias both the forces with which the experimenter and the subject press (in opposite directions).
The second is that the estimation of the force applied by the experimenter is entirely subjective. A possible way to remove this subjectivity, as well as the bias that can be introduced, is to use static weights to measure the strength of the muscles keep the arm up and straight.
Comment is solicited from the website with the article, retrieved 2018-10-22 7:53 PDT. Correction: an attempt to solicit comment was made, but the required ReCaptcha was not displayed on the Contact form.
Visits: 61
