Good to know this was based on existing literature. In most cases, it helps to show the reader you know that literature, to outline what it is, and then go on say what your new contribution is. Like I say, you missed a few of the obvious things, which is unfortunate. A piece of “what works for X” should, I say, include the things that work for X, then perhaps go on to flag which of these are likely to be a surprise, rather than assuming on the reader’s behalf what they will already know. If you are going to have a piece on “what works for X that might but that might surprise you” you should at least clearly flag that, and then point to something such as “standard guidance on X”.
Re strength of interventions being “40%” that still seems a confused way of presenting the information. 40% of what? Of a maximum score? A maximum score of what? Of cost-effectiveness? Well, why not just present the effectiveness numbers and divide them by the costs then?
I agree that this sort of thing can have a lower level of rigour but I stand by my concern that the method you use is so puzzling it’s questionably useful at all. You gathered quite a bit of relevant info, but I think you presented it in a less-than-ideal way. Here, simpler would have been better: I’d have preferred a post that just said “here’s a list of evidence-based ways to improve sleep” and then listed them and provided a brief discussion on each. That seems the way to go unless you have the data and time to do a quantitative (cost-)effectiveness analysis.
Glad you think we (at HLI) do good work. Like I see, feel free to reach out if you want to chat about research methods etc.! You can get me at michael@happierlivesinstitute.org
Hello Ben!
Good to know this was based on existing literature. In most cases, it helps to show the reader you know that literature, to outline what it is, and then go on say what your new contribution is. Like I say, you missed a few of the obvious things, which is unfortunate. A piece of “what works for X” should, I say, include the things that work for X, then perhaps go on to flag which of these are likely to be a surprise, rather than assuming on the reader’s behalf what they will already know. If you are going to have a piece on “what works for X that might but that might surprise you” you should at least clearly flag that, and then point to something such as “standard guidance on X”.
Re strength of interventions being “40%” that still seems a confused way of presenting the information. 40% of what? Of a maximum score? A maximum score of what? Of cost-effectiveness? Well, why not just present the effectiveness numbers and divide them by the costs then?
I agree that this sort of thing can have a lower level of rigour but I stand by my concern that the method you use is so puzzling it’s questionably useful at all. You gathered quite a bit of relevant info, but I think you presented it in a less-than-ideal way. Here, simpler would have been better: I’d have preferred a post that just said “here’s a list of evidence-based ways to improve sleep” and then listed them and provided a brief discussion on each. That seems the way to go unless you have the data and time to do a quantitative (cost-)effectiveness analysis.
Glad you think we (at HLI) do good work. Like I see, feel free to reach out if you want to chat about research methods etc.! You can get me at michael@happierlivesinstitute.org