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Guidelines for scientific meta analysis

  • Published: 09-19-2017 Edited: 12-31-1969
  • So you read about an awesome scientific study that validates your previous hypothesis about something and you would like to formulate a theory based on scientific studies, how do you do it?

    OK first of all, scientific results about a phenomena usually point in multiple directions, so you need to make an meta-analysis about many scientific results about the same thing find.

    If there is not enough science about your specific topic, say it's only one scientist who researches about it, or it just one institution or group, then the topic is not studied enough to draw any conclusion and you should refrain from making a case for your theory.

    You need to have multiple researchers finding the same thing without having an attachment with each other, so researchers independent from each other, finding the same thing.

    Then you need to have a stronger case than the case for the negation of your hypothesis, so if X explains Y then the case for not X explaining Y is much weaker.

    Another thing to consider is scientific fraud, it happens, and scientist make mistakes, but having multiple researchers finding the same thing reduces the risk of scientist fraud.

    Read about the common methods the researchers use in their research and see if there are common pitfalls to them and check if the researchers avoid the pitfalls.

    Good luck!