Including physiological variables in studies might confuse more than clarify

摘要

Over the last decade, it has become more and more customary in the scientific community to combine different kinds of subjective statements with biomedical variables. Doing so undoubtedly has the potential to provide a more well-rounded understanding of the human subject - "hard facts" might help us beyond what can be gained from social scientific outlines. A prerequisite for this potential in studies aiming to improve clinical practice, however, is that the study must provide a rational explanation as to why there is a potential contribution in adding the biomedical variables because these variables per se do not make a study more valid or "scientific."