Scientific Knowledge

How to Understand and Use Scientific Content Confidently

We don’t have to be a scientist to learn from studies but using scientific content requires a critical review by consumers.

Purpose of the Article

This article provides a practical review approach to consumers of scientific or academic studies. My goal is to guide an average user of research papers to leverage scientific content self-sufficiently based on my experience as a researcher and consumer of scientific information.

Scientists, researchers, and academics use a more rigorous approach to review scientific content, analyze data, and create literature reviews to use for their projects. I excluded those details.

Thus, I provide a high-level perspective to research consumers (not scientists) without going into editorial or methodological details.

This article might also be helpful for students. However, this post does not include professional advice. It is for information, inspiration, and awareness purposes.

Inspiration for the Post

I recently posted an article titled Here’s Why Contrived or Biased Studies Cannot Convince Me to Eat Breakfast, highlighting how scientific information might be misleading if not rigorously understood.

I independently analyzed a sample study trying to show the adverse effects of skipping breakfast on human cognition. The research was valuable and valid, but the conclusions were out of context, hence had the risk of misunderstanding by the public.

Some subscribers inspired me to write a piece providing them with some steps to consume scientific knowledge without going into details. Thus, I decided to create this post to satisfy the needs of my readers.

Six Tips to Understand and Use Scientific Information

In this section, I cover critical points under six headings highlighting key points without going into details.

1 — Read the title and abstract first.

The title and subtitle of a paper usually give us a clue about the research project. However, some researchers might use clickbait titles.

In this case, we can learn more about the research from the abstract. An abstract is usually a paragraph long. The abstract of a paper is a summary of the study covering the critical points.

For example, an abstract can include the purpose of the study, the approach used, the data types, its findings, and the conclusions.

2 — Find out the background of the researchers.

It is not always possible but learning about authors’ research and professional backgrounds from their websites can be helpful.

Their professional backgrounds might give us clues about their approach to the research project. Checking the h-index for the researcher can be helpful.

This index shows us how active the researcher is in providing their contributions to the scientific or academic communities. For example, this index indicates how often other scientists have cited their content.

3 — Understand the data and research methods.

Research methods make a big difference in evaluating the findings. Researchers use different approaches to answer a research question, solve a problem, or investigate an issue to gain insights. Thus, identifying research methods can be valuable.

Standard methods are observations, interviews, surveys, focus groups, data analysis, experiments, and interventions. Some researchers use a combination of two or more of these approaches.

Quality of data is critical for all types of research. However, data is produced in various ways. For example, some researchers produce their data, and others use established data sources.

Data from observational studies might be helpful for some topics, but they are not as effective as data from interventional studies using controlled subjects such as double-blind with placebo effects.

Many clinical trials use a double-blind approach. For example, in a double-blind clinical trial, the researchers and the research participants are unaware of the type of treatment until the study is completed.

4 — Check the quality of the journal where research is published.

Not all journals are equal. Some journals have much stronger rigor than others. For example, peer-reviewed journals are more credible than others published without peer reviews.

One of the criteria items is called the impact factor. This factor is calculated for around a three-year period. It represents the average number of times papers are cited after publication.

For example, Nature, Science, and the Lancet have a very high impact. Even though many sites require membership, you might use Google to find the impact factor. If you ask Google what the impact factor for the Lancet is, you will have the answer such as:

“With an Impact Factor of 202·731 (2021 Journal Citation Reports ®, Clarivate 2022) and Scopus CiteScore of 115·3, The Lancet is the world-leading source of clinical, public health, and global health knowledge — ranking first among all general and internal medicine journals globally.”

So, the higher the impact factor, the better quality of the journal might be. You can read about the journal’s background by going to its website.

There are a few indicators for the quality of journals. One of them is checking ISSN via this portal. Another critical factor is being indexed such as in Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and ISI (International Scientific Indexing),

Quality journals usually have their own websites showing their editorial team, the scope of the publication, impact, and indexing services.

5 — Read the paper critically.

Starting with trust in the validity of a paper can inspire us to read it. However, not all published papers are trustworthy. From my experience, many scientists have biases toward their beliefs. Therefore, we always need to read them critically.

One of the helpful approaches is to ask critical questions. Asking questions while reading a research paper can increase our understanding and can empower us to make sense of the content. For example, we might ask:

Is the method appropriate? Are the data sources relevant and reliable? Do they follow a logical and relevant approach to solve the problem? Do they leverage prior information? Are the researchers biased towards the conclusions they produce? Is the research sponsored?

Learning about the affiliations can be valuable. You might check affiliations in the disclosure section of the paper. We need to be careful with sponsored research as some of them might be biased toward the goals of the sponsoring organizations.

For example, some food or beverage companies sponsor research to use the findings for their commercial goals. Not all of them are useless, but knowing the sponsors might give us valuable clues about potential biases.

Most papers following the convention will have a discussion section. This section might be the most valuable part of the paper as the researchers interpret the data, overall findings, and results.

They also make comments on the implications and impact of the study on the discipline and overall society. Therefore, for users, this is an essential part of scientific papers.

6 — Check the References

A practical way to gauge the quality of a study is to identify whether researchers understand the field they are researching.

The reference section or the literature review part might provide helpful information about the researchers’ field knowledge and considerations.

The critical point is whether researchers reviewed the prior research in the field and analyzed and cited them relating to their investigations.

Conclusions and Takeaways

Consuming reliable information from credible sources is critical to accumulate knowledge and justifying our perspectives in our written or oral presentations.

Reading scientific papers requires attention and a bit of stringency as not all scientific papers provide valid information, and not all are written rigorously with high standards.

Content developers and journalists use scientific content to inform their readers. However, they sometimes do it in a rush without understanding the research context. Therefore, consumers might get confused and even misled.

We need to be careful to consume second-hand information. Thus, learning to use scientific content can be a valuable skill for personal and professional development. We don’t have to be a scientist to understand scientific content.

Even though the quality of writing matters, the most crucial factor is the quality and validity of the research. I introduced only high-level metrics for the average consumers. However, many more metrics gauge the quality of journals and authors.

For example, professional researchers use alt metrics, bibliometrics, citation index, category normalized citation impact, field-weighted citation impact, CiteScore, SCImago Journal Rank, and Source Normalized Impact per Paper.

However, these metrics are mainly used by academics and professionals for literature reviews. So, my key point is we don’t have to be a scientist or an academic to learn from scientific content.

We all need information for various purposes. Some of us consume them to improve our health and fitness, some to change lifestyle habits and others for business and commercial purposes. Critically consuming scientific information might also contribute to metacognition.

I believe these six simple steps can contribute to your consumption of scientific content effectively. I’d love to obtain your feedback on your consumption of scientific knowledge and your challenges in the process.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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