What’s the danger of ignoring the data that doesn’t support your claim while only presenting data that does? On Instagram @AndreaHardyRD, I talk all about how important it is to take into consideration the weight of the entire body of research when looking into nutrition information.
Hands up if you’ve heard the term ‘cherry picking data’ before ????????????♀️⠀#scicommunity
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Cherry picking data happens in research papers but where I most often see it is in extreme opinions online.❌????⠀
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– you have a particular opinion on something⠀
– you seek out articles that confirm your opinion⠀
– you ignore articles that refute your opinion⠀
and then…⠀
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????you make an Instagram post that reads like the whole truth and call it ‘research’.????⠀
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Sounds harsh? I don’t know how else to describe the ???????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? of information in favour of pushing a particular, usually extreme, opinion as ‘fact’. ⠀
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I find it even harder to teach you how to identify this, because without a solid foundation of knowledge in that exact topic – it can be SO hard.⠀
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????So I’ll leave you with this gem from my TEDx talk. ????⠀
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???????? ???? ???????????? ????????????????????:⠀
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????If nutrition information in a news article, Instagram post, Celebrity claim scares you, it’s PROBABLY NOT TRUE. ????⠀
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If anything makes you go ‘Whhhhhaaaaaattt?!’ it’s worth a quick look at if they cherry picked or what other biases that particular piece of information holds. ⠀
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The body of science ebbs and flows. It’s nuanced. No ONE study ‘proves’ anything – we need to look at the entire weight of evidence and see how it balances out. And… this can change over time! ⠀
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????I’ve linked to a post called ‘???????? ???????????????????? ?????????????????????????’ on @ignite.nutrition.inc blog, written by our @dietitianmarlee about a published, peer reviewed (and, how?!) article in NEJM from Willet et. al. refuting the paper that everyone had that ‘WHhhhhAAAttttt?!” reaction to. ⠀
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The blog highlights how bias can even present itself in the literature. This paper is describe as a ‘summary of evidence’ but REALLY is a summary of cherry picked evidence to prove a particular point, and did NOT discuss the entire body of evidence, or even any limitations, as should be done in a review paper.⠀
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Bottom line: we need to be careful even when reading the science.????⠀
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