If you’ve ever heard the term double-blind study, you can thank Hans. He led to its creation, which had a profound impact on how research is done. Normally medical studies give half the participants the active drug and half a placebo. But let’s say that as the experimenter, I know which one is the placebo, and whenever I give it to someone I snicker and roll my eyes. Just like with Hans, the experimenter knowing “the answer” can consciously or unconsciously inform the patient and reduce the objectivity of the experiment. So studies are done “double blind”—neither the patient nor the
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