Beware of reports bearing data
DAVID HANSON · Chemical & Engineering News · 1998
We are told we live in the Information Age. We are able to receive, process, analyze, synthesize, digitize, or otherwise handle huge amounts of information from sources near and far. Much of this information is in reports and studies prepared by organizations that have a particular point to push. But reliance on this information is troublesome, because so many studies are done without much balance or wide perspective. Reliance on such studies for your own research could come back to haunt you. The number of these studies seems to be increasing in recent years, but the shallowness of the purported analyses in many of them is becoming more obvious. Often, the studies are directed to offices and departments of the government. Supposedly their aim is to influence regulations and legislation. I hope they don't. The problems come when the preparer of the report is trying to make a specific point by focusing on ...