The Executive Council of the American Association for Public Opinion Research said Dr. Gilbert Burnham, a Johns Hopkins University professor, had repeatedly refused to cooperate with an eight-month investigation into his research on the Iraqi death toll that made headlines in October 2006 when it was published by The Lancet, a British medical journal.
The widely publicized study headed by Burnham contended that nearly 655,000 Iraqis had died because of the U.S.-led invasion and war in Iraq.
"When asked to provide several basic facts about this research, Burnham refused," the council said in a statement. It noted that the group's Code of Professional Ethics and Practices calls for researchers to disclose their methodology when survey findings are made public so they can be independently evaluated and verified.
More at Hot Air.
Maz2
Pollsters have ethics?
Maybe the Apollo moonshot really was a fake.
You can't back-up the bald-face lies of enemy propaganda. Instead of trying, just hang a few traitors and the behaviour will diminish on it's own.
655,000 dead Iraqis
One would think there would be some mass graves somewhere just begging for investigation and verification.
Or is the author of the report recycling Saddam Hussein's handiwork and attributing it to the US?
Moreover, with that kind of death toll there would be a lot of families willing to talk about their missing relatives and delighted to get their stories out about the atrocities allegedly committed by the US.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von
Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group "True North"
Hans. Cut the signature.
Mo betta, m'lady Kate? :)
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group "True North"
yes....it's none of my affair but if i may offer up a suggestion ?
...to my mind a simple 'Herr Meier' would suffice.
begging your pardon and speaking only for mesself of course but i've always been partial to 'Hansel'.....that diminutive takes one back to kinder gentler times....when hexen flitted about the shwarzwald....all the children wore lederhosen....and nobody marched about in a bellicose manner with those dreadful glockenspiel excepting them Proosians maybe(although even they exhibited certain undeniable timeless virtues) ....this was of course long long long before the 'snot catcher' mustache became fashionable..
How tediously predictable! Reality rarely, if ever, serves the ends of the liberal religion, so fabrication is the order of the day. But for liberals, as long as the feelings are right, who cares?
"It’s time to call Burnham’s work what it is: a piece of pseudo-scientific prostitution in service to a political john."
Nicely said.I like that!
"Its not much fun if your not provoking people", she said. "If they are offended they can leave. But your supposed to have fun."
Wouldn't want to be a kill joy eh john?
Popping balloons or over inflated statistics, which is more fun?
Of course Mr. Burnham's stats curiously still lack any independent party verification. I'm sure the learned prof from John Hopkins Univ. will be able to enlighten us all, as to the verifiable assertions he has made.
If one is going to make a Hindenburg like "Oh the humanity" claim, surely his database was not merely extrapolations of early casualty rates projected forward.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group "True North"
Just how is this Dr. Gilbert Burnham going to prove his findings of 655,000 Iraqi dead when he simply pulled the number out of his ass!!!
Pretty much any non-medical thing you read in The LAncet anymore is complete crap. Their editorial board is a pack of Labour Party apparatchiks, The have no interest in science. Only politics. Same with JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine.
If I was a student at John Hopkins, this new standard of research would make it incredibly easy to vacation through university. I can't believe the administration is making such lame excuses and they seem to actually think they will get away with it.
Same guy that came up with 500 million unemployed?
What is being ignored here is that this particular Lancet 'study' was accepted as FACT by the majority of the opinion-writers, the political pundits, the MSM, the totality of the left and so on.
This 'study' was given massive publicity and used to support mass rallies against "Bush's war'.
When some people tried to point out that the methodology was deeply flawed, based as it was only on guesses, speculation and hearsay - such observations were denigrated as 'partisan' rather than scientific.
When some pointed out that the 'range of confidence' statistic was too broad and therefore, the resultant data was completely invalid - the same result.
Now, three years later, the FACTS are emerging; the 'study' was invalid; it was a political opinion piece, with scientifically unacceptable data, using invalid statistical measurements.
BUT - it was accepted as Truth and put to enormous political use by the Left.
if Burnham would provide the 'evidence' he would appear as dunces,inane...
I wonder if you can substitute the words "civilian deaths" for "global warming" and see if the same outrage ensues over lack of application of the scientific method...
this HS (that's horse poo)was discredited shortly after it was first published
the figures by others were 140,000 to a high of 165,000
these figures stuck in my mind because the lefties were always claiming 50,000/yr kids were dieing because of sactions, so 165,000 over all would have signified an over all decrease, lefties are not only liars, but stupid as well:-)))
and Soros funded, who da thunk????
Hans Kristian 1st Battalian
you could always change to Heer Feet:-)))))
I looked at another compilation of erroneous data that had the death total pegged at near one million.I had a difficult time following the mish-mash of figures and extrapolation,though I did glean a few tidbits. This study counted the suicide bombers and their kill. Mass graves that were uncovered were attributed to Bush without any proof of U.S. involvement. The count from the graves was multiplied by four because they believed that for everyone found ,there had to be at least three that were not found. They also counted the possible offspring of a dead Iraqi,so one dead man would have fathered at least another 4 little Mo's,add these unborn to George's total. People were dying earlier because of the strain on medical services due mainly to the suicide bombers,yeah George again.Birthrates dropped,add that to the Bush league total,etc.
Hmmmm just wondering, WWJD?
What Would John (McCain) Do?
Burnham's studies remind me of the mass of studies done by Gun Control proponents in the 90's. There was a new study bayed by the MSM every three months with ridiculous claims, yet all were presented as the truth.
One published by Killias (1993) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal concerned the much greater occurrence of suicide and homicide in homes where guns were kept. It was all based on findings artificially created by questionable manipulations.
This escalated in future "studies" to 7, 28, 40, etc., times more likely for death in a gun owning home.
True scientists couldn't critique these "studies" quickly enough to keep up with the nonsense. And when they did, it didn't matter: the lies were continually repeated.
Phantom, Gunney:
Didn't one or more of these outfits (Lancet, JAMA, etc.) try to get gun deaths in the US classified as a public health issue? Or am I misremembering?
PiperPaul, they didn't try. They actually did it. The CDC had a whole department dedicated to gun control, and was spending millions funding junk science studies by the likes of Wiersema and Kellermann.
The Newt Gingrich Republicans clipped their wings in the second half of the Clinton Debacle. They dragged the whole thing through hearings, exposed the fact that these studies were a steaming pile fresh from the bull, and actually cut the CDC's budget.
I believe I did a little victory dance that day.
oh ferkrissakes...birnam wood....and dunsinane.....the improbability........yet the potential possibility.....evidenced as truly superstitiously fictional by continued reference to as the Scottish play....or in latter hysterical times as the American 'play'...
geddit ?
what callow shallow gutless players caper on our stage today..
Read the story.
He's not a member of this AAPOR outfit, so he's hardly guilty of failing to cooperate with an organization that has no right to investigate him.
Their 'ethics code,' whatever it says, doesn't apply to people who aren't members of the organization.
Would the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons be able to claim these pollsters in the AAPOR weren't living up to their OCPS ethics code?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16555-what-is-behind-attack-on-iraq-deaths-estimate.html
The Newt Gingrich Republicans clipped their wings in the second half of the Clinton Debacle.
Sorry, Phantom, wasn't paying attention at the time. Did the losers and the MSM blame "powerful, right-wing, mean-spirited, Republican (said with a sneer), NRA-and-weapons-maker-funded, religiously-fanatic gun-loving nutcases" for the defeat?
Did I miss any of the stereotypical favourite characterizations of the hoplophobes?
Burnham may hope the questioners get tired and go away lest he end up like Michael Bellesiles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A._Bellesiles