29 November 2014
Your front door is solid wood. In the middle, there's a peep hole. Your doorbell rings. You look through the peephole and see a pretty face. She's smiling. She looks friendly. You open the door and are overwhelmed by a gang of thugs who were standing outside the range of the peephole.
After you've been beaten up, tied up, and watched them walk off with your 54" flatscreen TV, you're left thinking: Gee, that was dumb of me to trust that one pretty face without considering all the other possibilities.
Research is no different. One pretty fact may lead to ugly consequences if we trust it without surveying the whole range of materials available.
PHOTOCREDIT: Adapted from "Girl Eye in Keyhole," CanStockPhoto (http://www.canstockphoto.com/images-photos/mark-twain.html#file_view.php?id=13069580 : downloaded 1 November 2014), uploaded 6 March 2013 by FotoVika; used under license.