"I have done my own research"

[MareofBeasttown]

Didn't want to put this in the coronavirus board because it's got so weird there. But just wanted to ask if I am the only one who does not do my own research in areas that I have no expertise in? I take expert advice and trust it will be fine.

I consulted my GP to ask if I should take the vaccine since I have no hope of understanding all the science behind the vaccine. Then I took it.
I go to lawyers if I have legal problems.
I have a financial consultant to help me with investments.

I am not saying none of these are ever wrong.DD had an illness that was not picked up by the family doctor, so I got a second and third opinion. But it was still better treated by a doctor than it would have been by Googling and trying to decipher medical journals on my own.

Am I just a lazy sheep?

@Gerwurtztraminer

I think it depends a bit on the thing to be researched. I agree I would take always professional expertise about some random google search.

But you can find out more on line if done properly. So for example how a vaccine is developed and approved is public knowledge and well explained by people who actually know this stuff. There are credible sources to explain why the Covid vaccines were able to be approved quickly (and it's actually interesting reading about the finances and processes for all vaccine development - so much is about simple funding issues, not the medical research).

Take some of the theories about the virus being leaked from a Chinese lab (whether deliberately or accidentally). There are credible, impartial professional researchers out there explaining why that is unlikely, and interesting reading about the research into bat viruses in parts of China and why animal to human transmission. is a far more likely explanation.

So if you are a geek like me with time on your hands you can source this stuff.

The problem is too many people go into a google rabbit hole, find the crazy stuff and don't have a clue how to check credibility.

It also doesn't help that there has been a growing anti-intellectual movement, fuelled by politicians and powerful interest groups. who do not WANT an educated informed population holding them to account. This has led to the undermining of trust in experts and statistics and a move to rely on 'lived experience', whether that's your own or unreliable networks (e.g. my uncle's brother friend says......).

Yes, the rise of the anti -intellectual movement is exactly what I meant to remark on, but you said it better! A real trust in "lived experience".

Depends. I have an unusual medical condition. After years of crap service from GPs/ consultants I did my own research and found something which really helps me to manage the condition. I had to argue quite strongly with the medics to get access to it ( I get it on prescription), but it has made such a difference.

So a combination can be helpful.

Though generally I agree. Just in the 'health' field there is a lot of terrible and even dangerous advice out there in the Wild West of the Internet. You have to know how and where to look.

I don't know if it works exactly like that as a lawyer has skin in the game in giving you your best outcome.

The NHS has to give everyone their best outcome. For example, maybe once we've vaccinated all children, we'll see that the risk to them was actually higher from the vaccine than Covid. But we decided the risk to those children was worth it because it kept other people from dying. So someone could arguably do their research and come to the conclusion from reading reliable medical research that for them as an individual it wasn't worth it.

Three women giving birth in three different countries will likely be advised by their health care providers of three different options for the "best outcome". They can't all be right, can they? So the woman in question needs to do her research and decide what's best for her.

Certainly, and I don't think anyone would disagree that there are often treatments available in other countries for illnesses that we don't always have access to because the NHS decides it isn't worth the cost to the NHS. So a doctor saying no to treatment doesn't actually mean they've advised what is best for the individual does it?

So, yes, listen to your HCP, do your research but blindly accepting everything someone says to you isn't great either.

@MareofBeasttown

Didn't want to put this in the coronavirus board because it's got so weird there. But just wanted to ask if I am the only one who does not do my own research in areas that I have no expertise in? I take expert advice and trust it will be fine.

I consulted my GP to ask if I should take the vaccine since I have no hope of understanding all the science behind the vaccine. Then I took it.
I go to lawyers if I have legal problems.
I have a financial consultant to help me with investments.

I am not saying none of these are ever wrong.DD had an illness that was not picked up by the family doctor, so I got a second and third opinion. But it was still better treated by a doctor than it would have been by Googling and trying to decipher medical journals on my own.

Am I just a lazy sheep?

You have a great approach. Trouble is with Googlers is that they can't match the quality, reliability & efficacy of what you're relying on so it all gets very 'well Bob down the pub says', usually via subjective, biased, over the top videos that, let's face it, people make more sensational anyway to make online income

Rightly or wrongly, when I bear ‘I’ve done my own research’ (normally to so with a vaccine) I immediately class the speaker as a bit of an idiot.

It always means - I’ve read blogs and watched YouTube, but only ever the ones that shore up my theories and never the ones that don’t. It never means - actually I’m an immunologist and have seen adverse effects that I’m not happy to expose myself to.

And also I do think good doctors welcome patients looking things up for themselves. My GP actually asked me to look up options for the menopause so we could discuss what I wanted at our next appt.

You can have a more informed discussion and make a better use of GP / doctor time if you actually know something. People with chronic conditions can become quite expert on them.

As someone with a Dr in her family I would not trust everything one says 😂 they can use opinions rather than facts and don't always know best, most of the time they turn to Web md 😂 as for vaccines half of what some know is off Google itself and the other half is personal opinions.

One Dr told my friend that her baby couldn't be allergic to breastmilk or anything in it... Baby ended up hospitalised as she did have allergies

RE: Covid as well it's very difficult to judge people for not wanting a specific vaccine when the health care professionals in other countries were taking it off the market for people in their age group. Who then do you believe? And of course, we did eventually follow suit...

@Eviethyme

As someone with a Dr in her family I would not trust everything one says 😂 they can use opinions rather than facts and don't always know best, most of the time they turn to Web md 😂 as for vaccines half of what some know is off Google itself and the other half is personal opinions.

One Dr told my friend that her baby couldn't be allergic to breastmilk or anything in it... Baby ended up hospitalised as she did have allergies

I had a young doctor tell me ten years ago (so not the dark ages) that there was no value in breast milk after the first two weeks and seriously ask me why I was still persisting at six weeks despite difficulty. I was made to feel like a weirdo or a pervert. Luckily I had done loads of my own research.

Yes this phrase made my blood boil last year when MIL wanted kisses and cuddles with our daughter, who had been born eight weeks prem. Our local neonatal charity was telling us that no research had been done into the risk of covid and prem babies, and to exercise caution. But MIL had been on google and read a few BBC news articles…

Certainly, and I don't think anyone would disagree that there are often treatments available in other countries for illnesses that we don't always have access to because the NHS decides it isn't worth the cost to the NHS. So a doctor saying no to treatment doesn't actually mean they've advised what is best for the individual does it?

This is true. There are options available privately in this country that the NHS won't offer or probably tell you about.

It depends. I am actually a researcher so technically have research expertise. But it's not the 'doing the research' per se that's the issue, it's people's interpretation of the research and the reliability and credibility of the sources they have used.

As a researcher I can appraise sources and rule out ones which are unreliable or unscientific. I can interpret the information to a differing degree based on my wider world knowledge. For example I worked in public health research for 10 years so know the best sources. But I have no legal expertise so couldn't begin to research a legal issue with enough reliability to offer an informed view which keyboard warriors may have opinions on.

I think it's particularly a feminist issue that women be respected when they do their own medical research as I know so many women who have been wrongly given terrible advice, misdiagnosed, not listened to and we do have a medical system that has made white male the default in research. I've been told silly things about breastfeeding, had my PCOS misdiagnosed repeatedly, been literally abused in childbirth. I mean fuck the poster who thinks I'm an idiot for doing my own research.

It's a real issue that people believe everything told to them by a person in authority. The medical community and schools are telling people they can change sex and shouting "science!" while they do it. It doesn't mean it's true..or science.

I am additionally wary of statements that "There is no evidence that x causes y" as often there is also no evidence that it doesn't either. An absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

If your priority is managing a herd, your advice is not specific to circumstances and is designed to placate. Because panic is the worst case scenario, always.

I think it comes down to critical thinking, trusted sources and reality.

Oh I have met so many of these lone ranger researchers, that line makes me cringe every time. Because all the scientists and researchers are wrong but you Belinda on facebook have it sussed.

@Zippy1510

As a microbiologist it infuriates me when the AV brigade pipe up with “do your research!”. I’ve been told I need to do my research many times when discussing things online and it’s hard not to respond with “I mean I’ve got a PhD and at least 15 years at a lab bench under my belt and manage my own research group but sure I’ll get googling!”

Precisely this. I'm a health care scientist. It's literally my job to know this stuff. YouTube will not inform my choices.

In a similar vein, I didn't like voting on leaving the EU. I'm not specialised in international economics and legislature and the reason I vote for my political party is the hope that they will make decisions that best align with my own view of the world and my country using their combined specialist knowledge.

Considering we now have instant and unprecedented access to gigaquads of data I don't see why you wouldn't want to find something out for yourself.

It's rather naive to put your faith in professional people you are consulting without some sort of critical thinking on your part.

'I have done my own research' = I have found a website that validates the opinion I already have.

Likewise, 'I have done my own risk assessment' = I have totally ignored the hazard that would stop me from doing the thing I want to do and totally overstated the risk from doing the thing I don't want to do.

I fully appreciate people who do they're own research. I personally (not Covid related) did my own research when it came to breastfeeding my baby and not taking the horrendous advice from my HV. So there are examples when it's very very wise to use critical thinking and to weigh up options.

What gets my goat is those (on any topic) who have done their 'own research' but can not eloquently explain what they have learnt or use any facts to back themselves up. So much of the anti vax movement for example is just 'go and research' rather than any explanation as to what changed their minds.

I am not sure I am smart enough to interpret the data on Covid. Maybe it is just me but quite often when someone posts something on the Coronavirus board, I find it hard to understand. I am fairly highly educated, btw, though not in science.

Obviously the risk-benefit analysis is easier for me because I am 49, so the odds of me being harmed by Covid are far higher than me being hurt by the vaccine. ( I can understand that much!) Though I see people older than me on the board who have come to a different conclusion.

@moreofthisagain

Depends. I have an unusual medical condition. After years of crap service from GPs/ consultants I did my own research and found something which really helps me to manage the condition. I had to argue quite strongly with the medics to get access to it ( I get it on prescription), but it has made such a difference. So a combination can be helpful.

Though generally I agree. Just in the 'health' field there is a lot of terrible and even dangerous advice out there in the Wild West of the Internet. You have to know how and where to look.

another "depends" vote here. Retired NHS clinician and by "research" I mean that i read the published peer reviewed validated research. I might start with a skim read or by reading the conclusion and then read more if I feel I need to...and no I have no deep understanding about vaccine creation or about epidemiology. I have got very good GP surgery who i more or less trust...and you may laugh but I trust Chris Witty and JVT even though I have never met them because i have met enough of their "type'. They may be wrong (and will be mortified and distressed if they are) but they won't lie. People who say "I do my own research" and mean they visit websites/pages operated by the tinfoil hat brigade....well should they be allowed out alone? I mean yes you need to know where and how to look but its not difficult......I mean these folk operate bank accounts, buy cars, holidays and houses......would they believe the same stuff about a house or a holiday as they do about a vaccine? (oo oo don't go to Ibiza, they put drugs in the water to control your mind...you spend the whole holiday asleep stacked in a warehouse and you wake up when you fly home believing you have had this wonderful holiday and while you are asleep the shove a microchip in to send you secret messages to program you to go back next year)

I think its up to the individual whether to trust or research. I wouldn't call anyone lazy who didn't PROVIDED what they decided to believe wasn't ridiculous easily refuted crap....I mean if you are going to believe conspiracy theories please make it a good one!

"I've done my own research" = I saw a post on insta, watched a YouTube video, but can't articulate the contents or summarise for posters here

Doing your own research is a long and arduous task.

Mainly because just reading up isn't enough. You then need to look at the sources and look them up and research them. If you don't know your sources, you research does mean alot. They verify the detail that those sources have put in. This is all at a minimum really.

And the research may require you to have an understanding or a subject that takes people years of studying and experience to understand the detail.

While researching a subject can be a good idea, it's not a quick process. Which is why we have experts, available to consult.

Unfortunately 'do you own research' usually means 'I googled it and read the first answer, go do that'.

*Precisely this. I'm a health care scientist. It's literally my job to know this stuff. YouTube will not inform my choices.

In a similar vein, I didn't like voting on leaving the EU. I'm not specialised in international economics and legislature and the reason I vote for my political party is the hope that they will make decisions that best align with my own view of the world and my country using their combined specialist knowledge.*

I am no kind of economist so I did my own due diligence before voting. I am used to close reading documents but it was a struggle.....the conclusion that I came to was "nobody REALLY knows what will happen or what will be the best thing to do" Every time I found something that looked otherwise, careful research on who had written it uncovered that it had been written or produced by somone who has started with an opinion then sought to justify it....often an honest person but not an objective one. I am not going to say how I voted in the end, but yes I picked out a couple of things that were inportant to me and to the people i care about and voted accordingly

CAVEAT This post is not about Covid, its about BREXIT. I think the evidence about what would happen in various covid scenarios is much clearer.

@Zippy1510

As a microbiologist it infuriates me when the AV brigade pipe up with “do your research!”. I’ve been told I need to do my research many times when discussing things online and it’s hard not to respond with “I mean I’ve got a PhD and at least 15 years at a lab bench under my belt and manage my own research group but sure I’ll get googling!”

Ditto! They seem to forget that we have researched, properly, in peer reviewed papers, with proper testing standards and teams of experts.