The Illusion of Certainty and the Certainty of Illusion: A Caution When Reading Scientific Articles

Critical thinking is necessary to read the scientific literature. However, in addition to questions about the science, often one must also question the meaning of the text. This article provides an example of the analyses needed to understand a single sentence. In so doing, it raises several interesting issues of meaning, measurement, statistical analyses, and the form in which results are presented and interpreted.