How to Read Scientific Papers Intelligently

As an engineer, I read scientific papers quite frequently. I am convinced most people do not know how to read scientific papers intelligently. This doesn’t need to be the case: you don’t have to be an expert to think critically about a study and its results. In a society which is obsessed with scientific discovery and “scientific truth,” Christians in particular need to be wise when engaging with modern science.

If you want to better engage with scientific findings, you are going to know certain questions to ask as you read scientific papers. Additionally, you are going to have to get a good grasp of the uncertainty inherent to any good science. Recently, I read a book that gives both a series of questions to ask of a scientific paper as well as a good analysis of the uncertainty inherent to science in general.

The book is called “Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth” by Stuart Richie. Although written by a non-Christian, it is an essential read for any Christian working in a STEM field and is useful for any believer who finds themselves looking up the latest “scientific study.” For today’s Book Quote of the Week, I want to look at questions Stuart Richie says you should ask when reading a scientific paper.

Is everything above board? Authors from reputable universities, companies, labs? Journal published in look professional?

How transparent is it? Can you find data set online anywhere?

Was the study well designed? How was the control group treated? When seeing headline claim, should ask “compared to what”

How big is the sample? How many subjects were included from the final sample and why?

Are the inferences appropriate? Causal language when only a correlation study? Experiments on animals jumped to humans?

Is there bias? Does the study have obvious political or social ramifications and do the scientists write about these in such a way that seems less than impartial? Where was the study funded?

How plausible is it really? If study involves human participants imagine yourself having taken a part…did the environment of the study even approximate the setting that the scientists want to know about?

Has it been replicated? Stop relying so heavily on individual studies

Questions from “Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth” by Stuart Richie

What the quote means

These questions come at the very end of “Science Fictions.” The entire book looks at the ways researchers intentionally or unintentionally publish results which are misleading in one way or the other. The results can be over-hyped, they can ignore important data, or the conclusions can be impossible to replicate in a future study. All of these questions laid out by Richie are designed to help you as you read scientific papers to ask the simple question “is this true?”

Some of these questions are harder to answer if you don’t have a STEM background. But the basic questions of “how was the study designed? Who were the people who did the study? What were the conclusions of the study and do they make sense?” are always useful to have in the back of your mind when reading a “scientific conclusion.”

Now, the goal of these questions isn’t to cause you to never trust another scientific conclusion again. Rather, they are tools for you to more intelligently discern whether an article like “10 Superfoods which reduce aging instantly” is something you should read and take to heart, or not. These questions help you sort the “wheat from the chaff” so to speak.

Why it is important

The scientific method is a gift of God’s common grace. Many of the good things in the modern world would not be possible without science and scientific discovery. As Christians, it is important to remember one of the assumptions of the scientific method is that the universe is designed in such a way that observation and testing is possible and yields valid conclusions.

It is the Christian worldview that has the foundation for scientific discovery.

However, like all of God’s good gifts, humans make science an idol. Unbelievers consider scientific discovery “the way, the truth, and the life” rather than Jesus. A practical outworking of this is a society that accepts any sort of “scientific discovery” at face value. And if you aren’t in a STEM field and familiar with the uncertainty and approximations inherent to the scientific method, it is easy to think “science says it, that settles it.”

Christians value science as a useful tool God has given mankind. But Christians do not get their wisdom and insight exclusively from scientific conclusions.

All things must be compared with infallible Scripture. And what I think “Science Fictions” does best is show that science really isn’t infallible and was never meant to be. Scientists are humans like anyone else with motivations for funding and to publish “breakthroughs” in order to climb in their field. That doesn’t mean you should never trust a scientist. It just means you accept that science is oftentimes fallible and an always changing body of data.

Therefore, if you are a Christian, you should leverage the questions Richie gives to better engage with scientific papers. Again, the goal is not to discredit any scientific discovery. Many great scientists in the past were Christians who understood that the universe was created by a glorious, powerful, wise Creator.

Takeaways

1. Christians should not reject science. Rather, they should model intelligent, thoughtful engagement with scientific research

In a culture that idolizes science and elevates it over the Word of God, it is easy for Christians to simply reject it outright. But there is a better way.

The scientific method is not the problem: sinful human hearts are.

Therefore, Christians, especially those in STEM fields, should model humble engagement with scientific findings. Christians should not pretend that science is a perfect, objective, infallible source of truth. But they also shouldn’t have cynical attitude every time a scientific discovery is made.

Again, Christian scientists in the past have seen the theological foundations of the scientific method. It is a good gift from God, although it should never be elevated over God’s revelation. If you want to live in this tension practically, use the questions from “Science Fictions” to start thinking through different scientific conclusions you read. As you read scientific papers, write down answers to the questions above so you can model thoughtful engagement with the findings, rather than blind acceptance or blind rejection.

2. For the Christian, science is an avenue for worship of God

I really don’t know how anyone in STEM disciplines can remain cynical about the idea of God. When you see the order, the beauty, the detail in the world around you, it really is “awesome” in the most literal sense of the world. To think that people can live in the scientific world amongst wonders every single day and still attribute those wonders to “random chance” is beyond my comprehension. But Romans 1 clarifies what is going on:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 1:18-20 ESV, emphasis added

Truly any scientist who does not see evidence for God all around him is without excuse. But what about for the Christian in a STEM field? Don’t ever think your job in a scientific field is separate from your Christianity. As you carry out the scientific method in your job, you should be worshiping God every step of the way.

• Stand in awe at the creation God has made
• Thank the Lord that He allows scientific breakthroughs to benefit sinful humans
• Mediate on how your specific work displays God’s “eternal power and divine nature”
• When you see the chaos and curse within the created order, remind yourself of the new heavens and new earth God will create free from the effects of sin
• Ask yourself “what kind of Being could and would create something like this?”

Christian, read scientific papers intelligently. The questions “Science Fictions” gives are a helpful starting point. And as you see God’s glory revealed in Creation, let that lead you to worship and to giving God thanks. Being a Christian employed in STEM is a high calling and a difficult one in our current culture. But it is truly a glorious field to be in as a believer in Christ.

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