Topic summary

Blinding yourself: practical methods and their limits — the long version

Research Methods › N-of-1 designs worked example effect size confounding data table

This is a generated summary. It shows the 5 most-liked posts from a topic of 12, in their original order, with the accepted answer included where one exists. It is a reading aid and it will miss nuance — the full topic is the record.

np_gilmoreTL3Nurse practitioner31 May 2026 · edited#3

s.diallo, post #2: The opening post is the version of this I will quote in future. One addition. Nothing in a personal experiment is medical advice to anyone including yourself, and several people here have found that a prescriber will happily discuss a well-documented one. Go to post

Sample size in n-of-1: you are the sample. Repeated measurements (weekly weighings, daily mood scores) increase the power to detect a real effect even though n=1.

The conclusion is tentative; the arithmetic underneath it is not.

12 likes in reply to #2 2mo

m.vukovicTL221 Jun 2026#6

Building on post #5 rather than restating it.

Confounding in personal experiments: other things change when you start a medication (season, exercise, diet, stress). Documenting those confounders helps you understand their contribution to the result.

That is the honest state of it as of this week.

25 likes 1mo

priorauth_notesTL2Regular28 Jun 2026#7

m.vukovic, post #6: Building on post #5 rather than restating it. Confounding in personal experiments: other things change when you start a medication (season, exercise, diet, stress). Documenting those confounders helps you understand their contribution to the result. That is the honest state of it as of this week. Go to post

I had read the opposite somewhere and cannot now find where, which tells me something.

7 likes in reply to #6 30d

l.piresTL216 Jul 2026#10

m.dalgaard, post #5: Duration should be set by how long an effect would take to appear rather than by patience. Stopping early is the commonest reason a personal experiment answers nothing. I checked the source rather than the summary, and they differ. Go to post

The best thing about this subcategory is that people post their protocols before their results. That order is what keeps it honest.

That is my reading. Someone else read the same page differently and was reasonable.

18 likes in reply to #5 12d

f.sjobergTL221 Jul 2026#11

Building on post #10 rather than restating it.

Blinding yourself is harder than it sounds and is not impossible. Somebody else preparing labelled containers is the usual approach and it requires a second person you trust.

This is where my knowledge stops and I would rather mark the edge than blur it.

20 likes 7d

Read the full topic (12 posts)

Suggested topics

Topic	Participants	Replies	Views	Activity
Designing a personal experiment that could change your mind Research Methods › N-of-1 designs confounding worked example data table effect size Posting this under the heading it deserves: Designing a personal experiment that could change your mind Everything below is what sits behind that. I was wrong about designing a personal experiment in a thread…	+2	6	695	6mo
Pre-registering a personal experiment, seriously Research Methods › N-of-1 designs worked example data table effect size confounding Pre-registering a personal experiment, seriously — setting out what I have, and where I think it stops being reliable. A narrow question about pre-registering a personal experiment, deliberately narrow,…	+96	119	58k	14mo
Washout with a one-week half-life: the arithmetic — does this still hold? Research Methods › N-of-1 designs confounding data table worked example Solved Washout with a one-week half-life: the arithmetic — does this still hold? — that is the question, and I have not found it answered plainly anywhere I have looked. Washout: setting out the arithmetic in full,…	+41	45	12k	1d
Pre-registering a personal experiment, seriously — a second dataset Research Methods › N-of-1 designs data table worked example confounding Posting this under the heading it deserves: Pre-registering a personal experiment, seriously — a second dataset Everything below is what sits behind that. Posting a small dataset on Pre-registering a personal…	+60	66	35k	3mo
An ABAB design with a data table and honest limitations — a second dataset Research Methods › N-of-1 designs confounding effect size data table worked example Solved On the subject in the title: An ABAB design with a data table and honest limitations — a second dataset Working notes rather than a conclusion. Posting a small dataset on ABAB design. It is mine, it is…	+106	118	25k	4mo

Related topics — sharing the tags worked example, effect size, confounding

Topic	Participants	Replies	Views	Activity
Comparing my trajectory with the trial curves, carefully — a second dataset Outcomes › Progress reports effect size data table long read Comparing my trajectory with the trial curves, carefully — a second dataset — setting out what I have, and where I think it stops being reliable. Maintenance rather than loss, which is the part of this that…	+77	81	16k	11h
How to ask a question when you cannot say why you are asking it Start Here › How to Ask beginner friendly site feedback worked example onboarding Solved Asking directly, because I could not find a straight answer: How to ask a question when you cannot say why you are asking it Question in the title. Context below, and I have tried to include the things people…	+49	53	36k	4h
An 18-month record including the parts that went badly Outcomes › Progress reports data table long read effect size DXA An 18-month record including the parts that went badly — setting out what I have, and where I think it stops being reliable. Asking about 18-month record on behalf of the question I keep seeing asked badly,…	+77	81	17k	12h
Sample size in a voluntary survey: the selection problem Data & Tools › Datasets observational data data table site feedback Solved Posting this under the heading it deserves: Sample size in a voluntary survey: the selection problem Everything below is what sits behind that. Sample size: setting out the arithmetic in full, because I have…	+1	5	12k	15mo
[2026 update] Amylin and gastric emptying: overlapping mechanisms with incretins Compounds › Cagrilintide & amylin analogues amylin analogues randomised trial effect size cagrisema Amylin and gastric emptying: overlapping mechanisms with incretins — setting out what I have, and where I think it stops being reliable. A question about Amylin and gastric emptying that I think has a…	+21	25	44k	5mo