The “story time” is to lull us in with a randomized controlled experiment and as we fall asleep, feed us less reliable conclusions that come from an embedded observational study.

Kaiser Fung explains. This comes up a lot, and his formulation in the above title is a good way of putting it.

He also has this discussion of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine trial results which makes me want to just do a damn Bayesian analysis of it already. I’ll have to find someone with the right combination of inclination and subject-matter expertise.