Methods questions

When reading studies ask yourself the following questions about its methods:

  • Would the methods used adequately test the variables you're interested in?
  • Were the tests performed consistently and correctly?
  • Was the sample generalizable (e.g. done on humans not animals, including participants of various genders, races, ethnicities, etc) and large enough? Was the sample randomized?
  • Was the study blinded?
  • Was there a control group?
  • How long did the study run?

To find out how to answer these questions, watch the video and read the following links.

Evaluating Science

Also see 15 ways to tell if that science news story is hogwash for more in-depth analysis of this handy infographic from Compoundchem.com

Bad Science infogrpahic from Compundchem

How to read and evaluate a scientific article

Video describes how to read a scientific article

Ways to Be a More Savvy Science Reader

Vox.com provides this handy list of 8 ways to be a more savvy science reader, including:

How can you tell if scientific evidence is strong or weak?

  1. Know the difference between a hypothesis and a theory
  2. Watch out for selection bias
  3. Don't confuse correlation and causation
  4. Look for the gold standard: double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized tests
  5. Understand "significance"
  6. Be aware of conflicts of interest
  7. Know that peer review isn't perfect
  8. Realize that not all journals are good"

Check Your Understanding-Evaluating Science

Return to your course site, read the two articles under Module 4 and answer the questions in Library Activity 5b.