Practice Questions for Sources and Ethics of Scientific Information

How do primary, secondary and tertiary sources serve different purposes? Give an example of each and explain why a primary research article is not automatically the best source for every question.
Using the lecture's example, how would you begin searching for evidence about probiotics and respiratory infections in adults without assuming the answer? What would you check before relying on the search results?
Several news stories and social media posts repeat the same scientific claim. Why might they represent only one piece of research? Explain how you would trace the claim to the paper and check that you have found the right study.
What does peer review tell you about a paper, and what does it not guarantee? How does a preprint differ? Explain why you should also check for corrections, expressions of concern and retractions before using a paper.
When reading a study, what would you check about its participants, comparison and measured outcome? Why should you also examine dropouts, the size of the difference and its confidence interval? Explain why a before-and-after change or a statistically significant result may support a narrower claim than a headline suggests.
Why can relying on one paper give an incomplete picture? If studies disagree, what differences would you examine? Explain why findings from adults, or from a study with mostly male participants, may not apply in the same way to another audience.
How do fabrication and falsification differ? Explain how an honest research record helps prevent them. If you discover an error in something you have already shared, what should a visible correction tell the people who received it?
What must you preserve and credit when you paraphrase another person's work? What else is needed when you use their exact wording? Explain why citing the source of a figure may not be enough to give you permission to reuse it.
Why might removing a participant's name be insufficient to protect their privacy? What should you check about ethics review and consent before starting research? Explain why funding and competing interests should be disclosed without assuming that commercial funding automatically makes a study unreliable.
How can generative AI help with research and writing, and what must you verify yourself? What should you check before uploading confidential data or unpublished work? Explain who remains responsible for work published under your name and when AI use needs to be disclosed.