Re:The problem with “doing your own research”
by pdonis on Tuesday May 10, 2022 @08:02PM
(#31334204)
> A more scientific approach is to look at everything in terms of strength of evidence; what are the strengths and the flaws of every study.
And unfortunately, much that is called "science" does not do this; it presents results as much more strongly supported by evidence than they actually are. Then everyone acts surprised when the results don't replicate or something turns up in a few years that shows the results were wrong or predictions based on those results don't pan out. Those results should never have been called "science" in the first place.
My view on learning to do one's own research is that, unfortunately, in our current information environment, you don't have a choice: you have to do your own independent research because there is no information source you can trust to always be honest with you about the strengths and weaknesses of claims and evidence. Of course that doesn't mean you can just believe whatever you want, and doing your own research is hard. But there is no alternative in our current society.
And unfortunately, much that is called "science" does not do this; it presents results as much more strongly supported by evidence than they actually are. Then everyone acts surprised when the results don't replicate or something turns up in a few years that shows the results were wrong or predictions based on those results don't pan out. Those results should never have been called "science" in the first place.
My view on learning to do one's own research is that, unfortunately, in our current information environment, you don't have a choice: you have to do your own independent research because there is no information source you can trust to always be honest with you about the strengths and weaknesses of claims and evidence. Of course that doesn't mean you can just believe whatever you want, and doing your own research is hard. But there is no alternative in our current society.