Scientific Method

I just want to share with you how I am going to look at an issue. I am going to look at research and see if it follows the scientific method. When I took statistics and research proposal classes in college the one thing I learned was that you could slant questions, play with numbers, or do a host of other things to make research say whatever you want. I will be looking to see if the proper scientific methods was followed. Proper research is done  in one of two ways. The first is you design an experiment. You have a control group and then you have other  groups where you change one variable. The goal  is for all the people in the groups to be similar in all other respects . The only difference will be the one or two things that you are looking at. When looking at this type of research I will be looking to see if there were other variables that were not included that could account for the result.  The second type is where they take a group of people and ask them questions.  They try to find similar people and ask them all the same questions and see what is the same and what is different. For example, they might take a group who has breast cancer and ask many questions to see if there is a common link.  This type of research needs to be carefully looked at to see how similar the people are or how well differences were factored in. I will also have to look at the reliability of the clients answering the questions.  The other issue with the scientific method is the ability to be repeated. It isn't enough to have one study say something. Other studies must be conducted and the same results occur.  This is the investigative approach I will take. If no research or little has been done then I will simply report that. One last thing that I will also look at is who is doing the study and see if they will benefit from the research . For example, if the tobacco company is doing a study on second hand smoke and says there is not a problem then I would be suspicious. I would have to look to see if anyone else that was independent reproduced the same results. I hope that this was not to boring but I wanted you to know how I was going to base my investigations.

Perfect Balance

I have set out on a course to get healthier but there is so much information out there. Where do I begin? I want to be healthy but everyone is telling me something different. I want to do the right thing but I also want to enjoy life and not worry about every little thing.  It is my mission to wade through different topics and find out what has truly been backed up by research and what is just some one's opinion. I am a nurse but I also believe that alternative medicine has some good ideas. As I weed through the research I will try to share what I have found in plain language. I will seek to be factual and impartial. If the research is there then I will say so but if it isn't then I will say it hasn't been proven yet. I'm just on a fact finding mission to better health. I hope to share it with you so you can decide for yourself what you would like to incorporate into your life style. None of us can do it all.  We all have to chose which things are important to us and which things to let go. My desire is to give you accurate information so that you can use what you want. I am trying to find my perfect balance and in the process I hope to help you find your-perfect-balance.