So, it is your conclusion that since 6 of 26 criteria improved with prayer, that prayer is effective. How then, do you account for the almost same number of criteria that were worse with prayer? Does that mean that God heard the prayers and decided to punish certain 'receivers' of prayer? Were they evil people and deserved the worst in spite of the prayers?
No, it is my conclusion, based on personal observation, and reading the experiences and work of others, that prayer is effective for the individual and, sometimes, for the people for whom people, and I, pray.
"Why" is a mystery.
Can I quantify the amount of assistance I provide when I pray for others? No. Can I guarantee repeatable, reproducible results each time I pray? No.
"Why" is a mystery.
But, can I observe that people's lives are sometimes 'miraculously' helped in unexplainable ways? Yes.
And so I pray.
I pray for you, too, that life will be beneficent to you and your family, and that you will find peace and fulfillment in your career and endeavors.
"Why"? Because I believe that somehow, somewhere, someday, it may help. God chooses as He chooses. He owes us nothing. Therefore, how can we 'demand' anything of Him?
If that's based on faith, fine. But, it's based on observation, too.
Quantum physicists are familiar with the absurd, too. They just think it has something to do with the higher understanding of the way things work. Average people look at what they propose, and see nothing but faith.
So, if faith convicts me... great. But, I can no more propose a theory of God's beneficence that would be all-encompassing, for all time, than can you or any other scientist propose a theory for why there was stuff extant at the beginning of the universe that went 'bang' in the first place.
Intellectual honesty demands that we all plead guilty to 'faith'.