Without research, there would be no studies for Brené Brown to base her claims on. Without research, the anecdotes behind Malcolm Gladwell’s stories would remain with their owners. And without research, every biographical or historical nonfiction title would be very, very short!
Since research is the foundation of knowledge, it needs to be done right, and that means interpreting your findings properly. I’ve put together a few common research pitfalls; get familiar with this list and avoid these at all costs.
1. Mistaking correlation for causation
Just because two facts share a trend, doesn’t mean they’re related. There’s a 99% correlation between the divorce rate in Maine and the US consumption of margarine, but it’s hard to imagine a butter alternative ruining that many marriages.
2. Cherry-picking your facts
Our cognitive biases make it dangerously easy to cherry-pick facts that support our arguments, resulting in incorrect conclusions. Since there are two sides to every argument, make sure you’re not overweighting the facts that help you prove your point and ignoring those that don’t.
3. Taking information out of context
In 2013, the Sri Lankan government quoted an article from The Guardian, stating that “Sri Lanka has everything to offer the perfect holiday” [sic]. The original piece actually read, “Sri Lanka has the hotels, the food, the climate and the charm to offer the perfect holiday… It’s just a pity about the increasingly despotic government.” Needless to say, misrepresenting the facts is not the best way to go about presenting a persuasive argument.
4. Hyperbolizing your findings
We live in an age of aggrandizing. Healthy foods are “superfoods”, people “destroy” their opponents in political debates, and cute videos “win the internet” every couple of hours. Your assertions will be more powerful if you allow your findings to stand on their own merit.
I’ll leave you with a quote: as Einstein once said, “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
Wait… apparently that quote was misattributed to Einstein in thousands of articles and books. I guess someone didn’t do their research!
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