Diagnostic tests whose results require expert interpretation are vulnerable to being dismissed as divination

Evidence

Cheeseman’s medical experts had told him that “clinical ecology,” a branch of immunology championed by Levin, was “a screwball science.” Cheeseman thought Levin was a charlatan, and he finally said so on the sixth day of Levin’s deposition, when the doctor asserted that the T cell tests led him to believe that Anne Anderson was “a sick lady,” at risk of developing serious illness in the future. In a voice heavy with sarcasm, Cheeseman said, “That’s sort of like reading entrails, isn’t it? Tarot cards. You throw the cards down and look at them and you see the future from that?” — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1445

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: how ‘screwball science’ labels get applied — the boundary work that decides which diagnostic claims count as evidence versus superstition.
• XREF: connects to: Psychotherapists sometimes employ undisclosed esoteric diagnostic systems on patients — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 657; Being deceived by a psychological test can inoculate people against trusting test results. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1854; Cross-examination exposes novel expert testimony as unverified reading rather than tested method — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action , 2106 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Cross-examination exposes novel expert testimony as unverified reading rather than tested method #corroborates (1.00) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 2106
• An exposed expert improvises untestable mechanisms rather than concede error #corroborates (1.00) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 2198
• Psychotherapists sometimes employ undisclosed esoteric diagnostic systems on patients #expands (0.95) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 657
• Blind trust without evidence is imprudent once reason can assess it #corroborates (0.95) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 355
• Being deceived by a psychological test can inoculate people against trusting test results. #complicates (0.90) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1854
• Some concepts are measured directly while others require fallible symptom indicators #expands (0.90) — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 328
• Mental-competence findings can be made without hearings or contradictory evidence. #expands (0.90) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 956
• Imposing diagnostic labels without systematic behavioral evidence undermines personality-and-politics research. #qualifies (0.85)
• Subjective tests have no right answers because each listener’s perception is unique #complicates (0.85)