Critical Thinking, Now More Than Ever

Thinking critically when evaluating medical evidence published following conventional peer-review requires neither sophistication nor prowess but does require a healthy dose of skepticism and a willingness to accept nothing at face value. A controversial 2005 manuscript made the astonishing (yet not baseless) claim that “It can be proven that most claimed research findings are false.”1 Regardless of whether one holds this opinion to be incisive or hyperbolic, it presaged what those of us who conduct evidence-based medicine remain keenly aware of: that while journals deem the presentation of measures of precisio n and statistical hypothesis testing as veritably routine, a far greater concern for readers should be that of study validity, which encompasses the myriad sources of bias that often are given short shrift, if considered or disclosed at all, in the medical literature.
Source: Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery - Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Tags: Guest Editorial Source Type: research