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Subject:RE: Common Errors in English From:Mailing List <mlist -at- ca -dot- rainbow -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 25 Feb 2004 13:24:37 -0500
February 25, 2004 1:15 PM
> Quoting Mark Baker <listsub -at- analecta -dot- com>:
>
> > I couldn't prove without more research than I am willing to
> do for this
> > purpose, but I'm pretty sure that reading by pattern
> recognition is the
> > brain's natural optimization, not something we are forced
> into by lack of
> > phonetic spelling.
> The trouble with conclusions like this is that they are
> circular. If pattern
> recognition is central to how the participants in the study
> read, then the
> study is going to conclude that reading in this way is natural.
Isn't it usual practice that if a trait is to be examined
in a study, then:
a) the design of the study should handle the problem
(separate out that trait from others)
b) the sample should be large enough and random so that
that kind of bias is minimized/eliminated?
