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.

  • Image of @andreahardyrd Instagram post about cherry picking data

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.????⁠⠀