Posted on April 11, 2021

Discussion Topic 1 of 2:

Read the following two news articles and discuss some things that come to mind based on (a) what you’ve read recently in the course materials and (b) your own personal experiences. 

**In terms of a “word count” guideline, roughly 300-400 words is a good target. 

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Discussion Topic 2 of 2:

Back in Unit 6 we introduced how to compare “this versus that”. This topic is critical, because VERY often, people take limited evidence and feel emboldened to draw a conclusion because they think they know enough. It’s akin to the fervor around health remedies during the early phases of the COVID-19 outbreak for which there were only anecdotal reports of success and no real, defensible evidence to support their effectiveness. Effectively, this was the same as saying “treatment A is better than nothing” when actually there was NO adequate evidence to support this. There is a good, brief summary of these quack remedies, here on Wikipedia: link (Links to an external site.) 

Even some news personalities and family doctors got in on the hype, throwing their statistical knowledge (if they ever had any!) to the wind in favor of a “quick fix” or clinging to hope. There is a place for hope and “just giving it a shot”, of course, but as managers we have to know when we know enough to make a good decision, and when it’s just a guess. Facts and evidence do matter. 

**In terms of a “word count” guideline, roughly 300-400 words is a good target.