Why You Should Learn How to Read Research
Knowledge is power and when you know how to read and understand the facts, you then have a strong line of reasoning when having a discussion with family, friends, and colleagues.
Scientific papers were once trusted sources for the latest breaking and noteworthy discoveries in the world of science and medicine. Today, those fields are influenced and controlled by companies and entities that have little interest in educating and informing the public.
Journals and scientific papers have become a form of advertising products and methods.
It is up to you, the consumer, to read and decide if something is the truth or if someone is twisting data to influence the public and ultimately sell more products.
Corporations have become master manipulators at molding data. Information can be presented in ways that show a study is ‘truthful’ and ‘factual’, even when the raw data shows another conclusion. The purpose of this guide is to introduce you to some common tactics they use and help you understand how to read research to recognize how data can be manipulated to produce a biased conclusion.
With these insights you can become a research detective and decide for yourself where the truth lies.
The Hidden Tricks Used to Form Biased Conclusions
It is hard to believe that science could be controlled by money and power and manipulated to push a product or intervention. Unfortunately, this has become the status quo in much of scientific research.
A study can be manipulated in several ways. For example, many papers showing negative outcomes simply do not get published. The truth is hard to discern because of this. Many other studies are “zombie studies” – meaning the study was not actually conducted. It is estimated this happens to about 20% of papers.
Important data is often not included in the papers, so you need to know what to look for. What is not in a paper can be very revealing. An example of this is when details on adverse effects or subgroup analyses are left off. You may ask, ‘why is this information being hidden?’
One way to tell if a trial is manipulated is to compare the pre-registered protocols with the methods actually employed in the paper. Read more about this here. Questions to ask:
- Did outcomes change from the original protocol?
- Did statistical methods, sample size, inclusion or exclusion criteria change?
- Was there a clear sample group and control group?
- Were factors excluded (or included) that would cause the data to lean towards a particular result?
Deepen Your Knowledge with More Reading
The following are great resources to further your understanding about reading research. They are clinicians, have careers in research science, are data experts, and/or have written and presented lectures on research and research design.
Dr. Tess Lawrie’s Substack
https://substack.com/@drtesslawrie
Alex Marinos’ Substack
https://substack.com/@doyourownresearch
Tess Lawrie’s interview with Andrew Hill: https://twitter.com/alexandrosM/status/150012428 3850219528?lang=en Tess Lawrie’s interview with Andrew Hill
Aaron Hertz’s Substacks
https://ashmedai.substack.com/p/the-complete- idiots-guide-to-cooking https://ashmedai.substack.com/p/did-the-cdc- doctor-their-2021-study
Dr. Pierre Kory’s Substack
https://pierrekory.substack.com/
A Midwestern Doctor’s Substack
https://substack.com/@amidwesterndoctor Kelly Kronhert’s Substack – https://substack.com/@kelleyk
The Disinformation Playbook
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/disinformation- playbook
OK. READY to read the guide and teach yourself how to analyze research papers?
Download the FLCCC GUIDE HERE.
Impressions of a Holobiont 