Editing Making sense of community research (section)

=== Assessing credibility. ===

As with any information you read, it's important to gauge whether the research you find is credible. Peer review helps, but isn't perfect. Some of the best universities might not be names you recognize. Scams and sloppy work happen in academia as with everywhere. Here are a few factors to weigh when evaluating research.

# Is the argument coherent? That is, can you see a connection between the question they ask, the data they gathered, the analysis they did, and the conclusions they came to?
# Is the work in consensus with or contradicting previous findings? In the science of community as in other sciences, a single study should generally not be enough evidence to change day to day practices. Look for multiple pieces of evidence: but be aware that academic publishing usually requires 'novelty' -- finding or doing something new -- so you're unlikely to find multiple sources for the same exact fact. Look for studies of the same types of practices in analogous communities.