Critical Reading: Making Sense of Research Papers in Life Sciences and Medicine

by Yudkin; Ben

• ISBN13: 9780415303224
• ISBN10: 0415303222
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-05-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Textbooks are designed to teach, to explain, and to make complex information easily understood and assimilated. Research papers do the reader no such favours. Being able to understand and use primary research is an essential tool in any scientific career. This book teaches these valuable skills simply and clearly, saving hours in the long run.Critical Reading explains how to:- approach every paper methodically- spot work aimed to support a pet theory- gain confidence in questioning what you read- be alert to bias- use abstracts intelligently- identify suspect experimental methods- assess quantitative methodology- interpret results with confidence- draw inferences from published work.Using extracts from published 'Papers in Focus', this book imparts valuable know-how to students and researchers from any biomedical or biological discipline. The text is easily read and understood, and the use of key points, summaries and reference reinforces good technique.

Author Biography

Ben Yudkin teaches at the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, UK

Table of Contents

List of figures	viii
Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
1 The paper trail	1	(13)
The deep end	1	(2)
Sources of information	3	(5)
Textbooks	3	(1)
Reviews	3	(3)
Research papers	6	(2)
Finding what you need	8	(5)
Know your books	8	(1)
Know your journals	8	(1)
Hunting the needle	9	(3)
Looking into the future	12	(1)
References	13	(1)
2 Medium and message	14	(7)
Journals	14	(3)
Peer review	14	(2)
Prestige or puff?	16	(1)
The internet and other sources	17	(3)
A tangled web	17	(2)
Copying errors	19	(1)
References	20	(1)
3 Scientists as authors	21	(18)
Truth and relative truth	21	(5)
The world is orderly — isn't it?	22	(3)
Artefact or ugly fact?	25	(1)
Interpretation and presentation	26	(7)
The academic funding crisis	27	(1)
Science meets business	28	(1)
Stockholm beckons	29	(1)
Sex sells	30	(3)
Invisible science	33	(5)
Publication bias and reference bias	33	(3)
Calling the tune	36	(2)
References	38	(1)
4 The Abstract and Introduction	39	(10)
First impressions	40	(6)
Do I need to read the paper?	40	(1)
What is the paper about?	41	(2)
What was the point of the research?	43	(2)
What are Abstracts not for?	45	(1)
Exercise	46	(3)
5 Materials and Methods	49	(18)
The scientific method	50	(9)
Attention please	50	(1)
Method or madness?	51	(6)
What are controls for?	57	(2)
The scientific question	59	(2)
A clear problem	59	(2)
Exercise	61	(6)
6 Quantitative methods	67	(29)
Significant figures	68	(12)
Statistical significance	68	(5)
Confidence intervals	73	(1)
Sample size	74	(6)
The significance of figures	80	(3)
Exercise	83	(12)
References	95	(1)
7 Thinking science	96	(30)
Assumptions and deductions	96	(9)
Outside the box	97	(5)
Lines of reasoning	102	(3)
Reading research	105	(5)
Revisiting the paper trail	106	(4)
Exercise	110	(15)
Reference	125	(1)
Appendix	126	(1)
References for the exercise in Chapter 4	126	(1)
Index	127	(1)
Index of Papers in Focus and papers by subject	128