When Can You Trust the Experts?: How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education

Chapter 5

Step One: Strip It and Flip It

He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars

General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer

For Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.

—William Blake1

So far, this book has described evidence that we believe things for poor reasons (Chapter One) and that we are especially susceptible to reasons that sound consistent with sensibilities from the Enlightenment or the Romantic era (Chapter Two). I’ve described what constitutes good science (Chapter Three) and how to use it (Chapter Four). It’s time to get specific about how we can differentiate good science from bad.

This chapter and the three following outline a four-step process to help ...