Re: [Harp-L] Re: THE COMB DEBATE REVISITED: SPAH Test

[Michelle LeFree <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brendan Power writes:
> Johnnieharp said: "Another issue is, even if the audience could / can tell
> the difference
> between the sounds coming from different combs or cover plates, is the
> difference significant enough to affect their opinion of the music."
>
> I thought I made it clear this is NOT a test about audience opinion - that's
> already been done, as noted in my post. This is about what the Player and
> Close Listener hears.
>
> Coverplate testing is another thing altogether, and we can't do that at the
> same time. We need exactly the same covers and reedplates to go on each
> different comb as it is introduced.
>    

Adding variables significantly expands the complexity of the experiment 
and multiplies, often by a surprising margin, the number of samples 
required to achieve statistical significance.

Best to "keep it simple" and answer the most important question(s) 
definitively than make the experiment so complicated to execute as to 
render it "undoable" with the given time and resource limitations.

Again, that's the way I see it. :-)

How about you TurboDog? You're the scientist in the group here. ;-)

Michelle