Studies, trust and data collection

I don't fully trust any study I haven't performed myself. To be fully confident you have to be involved in both the data collection phase and the interpretation phase. For one's interpretation to be meaningful we must have full faith in the data which is difficult if we didn't collect it ourselves. 

While the data collection phase can be fraught with difficulty there is particularly great danger in the interpretation phase which generally involves statistical analysis. 

This phase is open to great manipulation and requires deep statistical knowledge and the integrity to apply best technique no matter the result. For the possibility of manipulating or massaging the results to suit one's vested interest is always a possibility.