I am continuing to receive questions in the format of “I have heard that…”. Sometimes I do a quick Google search and learn something new. Oftentimes, it is something I have already covered and usually shown to be incorrect. In order to prevent this, I am listing the basics to remember when researching.
1) Nothing is too complicated when you’re truly interested in something.
If for example, it is about genetics, take baby steps. Read slowly and don’t skip anything you don’t understand. Look things up. Even if it takes a year to read an actual study, it is better to limit yourself to one and get it rather than reading many and still being unsure what the study was about.
This video only has 1,500 views, yet “godlikeproductions” articles about aliens have millions. Imagine everyone spending their time listening to this video and referencing everything they didn’t know yet and wound up reading up more on the subject matter instead of consuming a bunch of troll posts and then having the nerve to share it on Facebook confusing other people with them.
2) You cannot allow pre-existing opinions to dictate and limit what you pay attention to.
I see it all the time where people are skipping anything showing their theory to be questionable and rather lose themselves in articles supporting theirs, even when no proof is being offered.
3) When you come to a dead end, look for the open doors and enter.
Don’t allow blank space to be filled by your or other people’s opinions. When the next step requires you to believe, leave it. Every month, new and amazing research is being published, so it is better to wait and see than wander off into a dreamworld and end up confused.
4) Don’t stop looking for more information once you are on the right track.
You never know everything, but you can either continue gathering information or wind up stuck. Every research leads to more and it pays off to become somewhat of an expert in a specific field.
5) Look at the sample sizes of studies and know when it makes sense to continue looking for studies backing up the one that has given you information.
Don’t base facts on small studies or studies limited to smaller and specific locations. A great example is the old claim that Berbers were 40% rhesus negative. If you look at small studies, you can actually happen to hit an extended family of rhesus negatives and the results may not actually represent and reflect rhesus negative frequencies of your ethnic group or tribe.
6) Never pay attention to any article claiming to be scientific without looking at the actual study (often mis)interpreted.
If no reference to an actual study, ignore or look for a real study on your own. Scientific magazines tend to have writers creating misleading headlines to get attention. It is not uncommon. Even when you get information from Wikipedia, look at the reference, follow it to where the proof and actual data is located and don’t assume anything unless you do this to back up what you are looking for.
7) Let your research lead you to the conclusion.
Allow the facts to guide you. Be persistent. Let theories inspire, but not box you in or limit you.
I always encourage everyone doing their own research and sharing it freely. I prefer people questioning my research rather than “believing it”. We live in a world of beliefs and lacking facts. This is the only rhesus negative website where facts dominate. And some of the facts have been brought to me by readers like yourselves. I appreciate the trust some bring to me and believe I have earned it. But I have also noticed that some who blindly believe me, do so with questionable material as well. So it is always good to get into the habit of looking something up and reading the actual studies referenced when something hits your interest.