• SmoothLiquidation@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    39
    ·
    28 days ago

    I haven’t read the study, but most of these would need a placebo group, so divide the herd into thirds, one with no paint, one with stripes, and one fully painted white to get a baseline for each group. Also would be good to randomize which group each cow goes in each day so to rule out one cow who is especially tasty to flies.

    • Tja@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      27 days ago

      Also blindfold the scientists and the cows so it’s double blind. We don’t want the cows acting in a fly-attracting way because of placebo.

    • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      27 days ago

      Those groups also have another characteristic that changes: the amount of the cow covered in paint.

      How do you determine if its that vs the stripes or colors?