To Research...or...Not To Research !?!

And the world didn't end...yet again !!!

Despite what some scientists said confidently about the devastating consequences of last week's astronomical changes, here we are, no earthquakes or tsunamis...Thankfully !!!

As I promised I was observing and I am sorry to say that they have been undeniably wrong !!!

A faulty research !!!

Morwenna Grifiths once said it "There is no hope of doing perfect research" !!!

Although that you might not agree with Grifiths, she has got a point !!!

Grifiths received criticism for this statement, however, her argument is very convincing. According to Griffiths, there is always some degree of bias, as the investigator can't completely ignore his scientific experience or his political and social believes. And when this scientist is greatly convinced with his observations and results, he becomes biased and he starts to transfer his believe to us as a fact...not as a "research result".

So, it wasn't a faulty research... it is just a negative result !!!

So, do not lose hope in researches.

Research bias has been an issue since research publication started. Judging and critiquing a research is not an easy task, let alone detecting unconscious bias....so here comes the role of research reviewers.

An impartial reviewer carries an enormous task to detect any bias, evaluate the research and publication and asses its importance to the research community and applicability. On the other hand, if the reviewer is biased, the reviewing process will be unfair. For instance, peering reviewing which is carried out by many scientific journals, this method sometimes is unreliable, biased and shows a clear conflict of interest....so the reviewer may be impressed with the results, and he may be as biased as the researcher himself !!!

Researchers in all fields are always challenging themselves to avoid bias. Similarly, all reviewers and research funding agencies are always perfecting their systems to gain a more perfect unbiased research. Thus, we have to trust that all researchers are doing their best to perfect their studies, but at the end, perfecting research is neither an easy task nor is it easy to judge.

Finally, mankind is indebted to discoveries and researches for its evolution and development. A lot of researches are known to have changed the human believes and/or lifestyle. However, many other researches have been proved to be incorrect or biased. This discrepancy might cast doubts, whether the public should believe the conclusions or not. Nevertheless these doubts shouldn't prevent us from appreciating a good research.

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Image Credit for Eloquence via wikimedia Commons