Problem
Let's assume I am bald – OK, I am bald anyway - and I don't believe in research studies and science (I actually do).
Idea
The local hairdresser informs me she has an ‘alternative’ goat shit juice that will grow hair on my bald head. Her uncle passed the recipe to her and her husband and his brothers swear it stinks but works miracles - contrary to useless medical treatments. Besides, we all know how the medical industry works. Much like vaccines, big pharma is paying researchers to make false claims and to hide any serious side effects. Alternative products, on the other hand, are ‘natural’ with no side effects. There is no need to test them - everyone knows they work.
Why not
I agree to use the product on my head and a month later I observe that my hair looks fuller!
As it happens, I had some money that I wanted to invest in a start-up and I think this looks like a promising product. Why not test it a bit more, and if it turns out it works, we can produce it, market it, and sell it commercially.
Test
We decide to run a test with 100 semi-bald customers. We split them into three groups, an experimental group that receives the hairdresser’s shitty solution, a placebo group that receives a fake (pure water and flour) solution, and the control group that does not receive any treatment.
It works!
A month later we find that, as expected, the control group had no improvement. The placebo group had small negligible improvements due to their faith to the (fake) treatment, but the experimental group? They all look like hippies.
Excited about the results, I publish them to a scientific journal and start producing the hairdresser's secret solution.
Oops...
Except now … I realise I have two new problems:
1. I don't believe in science and experimental studies. I can’t trust my own research.
2. My network, i.e., people with similar beliefs like mine, will not buy the product because … research shows it works, hence, it no longer is an alternative product. Alternative products that are tested and are proven to work become 'evidence based treatments' or ... medicine.
Outcome
The hairdresser has stopped promoting it - big pharma must be behind it. She now offers astrology counselling (which, after all, does not run the danger of being proven to work).