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Read a research paper critically
When you want the claims, the method and the weak points of a study before you rely on it or share what it says.
Updated
Read the paper below critically. Use the full text; if I've pasted only the abstract, say what you can't judge from it.
1. **Main claims**: what the authors say they found, in plain words.
2. **Method**: how they tested it, including the design, the sample and its size, and what was measured.
3. **Strength of evidence**: whether the method supports the claims. Flag correlation presented as causation, small or unrepresentative samples, missing controls, and an abstract that claims more than the results show.
4. **Limitations**: the ones the authors admit, and the ones they don't.
5. **Conflicts of interest**: funding and affiliations, if stated.
6. **Bottom line**: how much weight to give it, in one or two sentences.
Quote the paper for each claim you make about it, and say so whenever you draw on knowledge from outside it.
Paper:
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