Question

Several hypotheses may fit every set of data. what is important to know when you hear about a new scientific finding? NUmber the following in order of their importance.

__ who paid for the research?
__ the education of the scientist completing the study
__ how much data did the scientist collect?
__ was the research biased?
__ has the reasearch been repeated?
__ was the experiment a controlled experiment?


Briefly explain why u selected the order?

Answer 1

I'd rank "who paid for the research" as # 1. I wouldn't trust a pharmaceutical company that pays for research for its own drug.

Answer 2

and what about others?

Answer 3

What do you think?

Answer 4

i don't know ........plz help

Answer 5

All of those are important. You need to use your knowledge and judgment to determine which are most important to you.

Answer 6

thanks

Answer 7

You're welcome.

Answer 8

Ms Sue wrote: I'd rank "who paid for the research" as # 1. I wouldn't trust a pharmaceutical company that pays for research for its own drug.

Um, I'm no great fan of the pharma companies, but for the record, they pay for most of their own research, and we benefit from the results. The poster asks about hypotheses and data generally, where the explanation may vary. Lots of valid research gets paid for by interested parties...it's only if the results are particularly controversial or contested that we need to look for biases. Also, "the education of the scientist completing the study" is irrelevant in science. All that matters is that the work is good enough to be published in a refereed journal. Aside from MDs, in fact, scientific journals won't generally allow someone to list their degrees when submitting a paper--for exactly the reason that the work is to be evaluated on its own merits.

Answer 9

Thank you for your insights, Joe.