>>What does that final sentence do to your confidence in this study?
>
>The final sentence doesn't do anything to affect my confidence in this
>study.  A study is a study, and they report what they find.

Ahh, Kathy is so right again.

There's nothing "wrong" in a study (including the one I cited). Studies are
just studies.  Studies aren't wrong or right, they just *are*. "Let's study
that.  My, isn't that interesting.  What a surprising outcome."

The problem comes from wanting to live life based on what studies show
instead of living it as seems fit for us. People who do research and write
results of their studies, like Kathy, don't topple their life patterns
every time a new study comes out.

This is one reason that responsible researchers cringe when the media grabs
their one study and makes earth-shaking proclamations. The fact that
studies can "show" anything and that people who don't know how to use study
results are basing their lives on research, is the reason that BIG moneys
are spent supporting a given study.

By the way, I am using "study" and "research" as synonymous.  Are they? And
what about "evidence"?  We talk about evidence-based LC practice.

I'm glad that someone wants to do research and studies, but relying on them
in order to live a life of "certainty" makes for a very shaky existence.

Now, I'm getting out of the "study" stuff, which I shouldn't have gotten
into in the first place.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


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