Originally Posted by
RangerDanger830
Feel free to add to this.
We live in the age of Internet educated people who actively tote around Google diplomas, regurgitating everything they read on Google scholar and trusting the media blindly. No doubt the Internet is full of near limitless knowledge, but knowing what to trust and what isn't has become increasingly difficult. Structured and unimaginative college curricula sure aren't helping.
Too often have I seen people use a study to back their claims and justify their false point of view. There are published studies about pigs riding on the hood of a car, how elevator music supposedly boosts immune system response, and one even stating that interaction with women makes men stupid. No doubt they all used scientific jargon to make the layman further trust the crap they spouted.
So here are a few things to look for before quoting scientific research in your next online debate.
1. Make sure you actually have the research to reference. No one should believe you just because you said you read the study. I prefer to read it myself before trusting you. No offense personally.
2. Make sure it is relevant. A study from 1955 may not be relevant in certain fields today. While some studies are nearly timeless, they are few and far between.
3. Make sure the study actually focuses on the main topic of your argument. Research that briefly mentions a topic usually neglects to explain it and understand it fully.
4. Ensure the article is published from a reliable peer-reviewed article. Even then, proceed with caution.
5. The research has to be verifiable. This means the author is preferably an expert in his field of study. This means a fair amount of education and experience.
6. Avoid bias as much as humanly possible. We're all biased, even publishers have publication bias whereas printing positive results is more preferred over negative findings in research. If you're reading a paper written by an environmentalist employed by Shell Gas stating climate change is a fallacy then you should approach with caution.
7. I immediately dismiss any study that presents anecdotal evidence. It's inaccurate and unreliable and more subject to error.
8. Don't read the abstract and think you're an expert. The abstract isn't enough to scrutinize a study in the first place and is usually written more to attract interest.
9. Correlation does not equal causation. Just because serial killers all breathe oxygen does not mean oxygen causes murders.
10. Ignore out of context data. This means data that doesn't have a reliable control to measure it against. One such example would be the amount of murders in New York City in 1900 compared to 2000. Of course the number is going to be higher, the population grew significantly. Some studies play on this.
11. On the topic of data, the best studies, although not always necessary, are double-blind, random, and have a large N-value (sample size). The larger the sample the more accurate. Studying 5 middle aged males isn't as accurate as 500. And make sure the data is able to be replicated with a similar, accurate statistical significance, preferably P<.05. Meaning 95% of the time the results will be the same.
12. A lot of studies reference past studies. Ensure those prior studies are valid as well.
13. Another one I'll throw out there sometimes is valid and sometimes just doesn't work. Humans share a lot of characteristics with lab rats and monkeys. That doesn't mean every study works on them and us alike.
14. Question the potential bias of the subjects as well. Are placebo and nocebo effects likely? Did people drop out? Why?
15. Then ask yourself, is the proposed conclusion or solution to your argument even feasible?
16. If the researcher admits further analysis on the topic is needed then he is essentially say he could probably be very wrong and needs to research more before it's more definitive.
17. Lastly, can the experiment be replicated? It should be.
If I forgot anything let me know. Hopefully next time I see a Google scholar link it'll be to more than just the abstract.
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