Always check the source

The last couple of weeks I’ve been researching a blog post. During that process I came across a statistic that seemed perfect for what I was writing.

The statistic was being used to make a fairly bold claim. I hadn’t come across this ‘fact’ before, so decided I’d dig a little deeper.

A bit of searching revealed multiple articles repeating the same claim; some even citing the original research it supposedly came from.

After jumping over a few hurdles, I finally managed to get hold of the original white paper. To my surprise, the statistic didn’t represent what the many articles claimed it did. In fact, it told a very different story.

It turned out that several sites had taken the statistic and skewed its meaning to support their own arguments.

The fact that so many sites repeated the same misinterpretation suggests they hadn’t checked the original research at all. They were simply copying each other, much like a game of Chinese Whispers.

The Internet is rife with misinformation. My time in physics research taught me the importance of verifying sources. As professionals, we need to be confident that what we share is accurate; that means going back to the original evidence whenever we can.

Let’s help break the cycle of misinformation.