it amazes me that certain scientists here who shall remain unnamed fail to grasp the idea that experiments need control groups. i remember when this notion first truly dawned on me. it was in sec 3, when von and the crew and i were in boarding school, and we had to design an experiment, and i hit upon the cockamamie idea of playing different genres of music to bean plants to see whether it affected their rate of growth*. i know, genius right?. anyway, i was nearly at the end of the thing when i realized that i hadn't kept a no-music pot, which, on top of the facts that a) i had no idea how to do a one-way anova, and b) plants don't actually have ears, would most certainly have caused the experiment to be filed under 'u' for useless.

so, yes, we were all young once, and in a pre-post intervention design, it's a bit more complication. but seriously? an experiment without controls?

* i only admit this in public because i already have my diploma, which arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago. can't take that away from me!