Research Methods & Research Literacy
Research literacy is partly about methods and partly about interpretation. The pages here connect study design, statistics, peer review, evidence synthesis, and efficient reading so that a result can be judged in the context of the question it can actually answer.
Research methods
Practical guides to study design, academic reading, peer review, and methodological tradeoffs.
Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research: What Is the Difference?
A practical comparison of qualitative and quantitative research, including the questions each can answer, common methods, strengths, limitations, and mixed-methods designs.
Study-design comparisonCross-Sectional vs. Longitudinal Studies: What Changes When You Add Time?
A clear comparison of cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs, including prevalence, temporality, repeated measurement, attrition, and causal interpretation.
Evidence-design comparisonRandomized Trials vs. Observational Studies: Strengths, Limits, and Tradeoffs
Why randomized trials and observational studies answer different questions, how randomization changes confounding, and why study quality cannot be reduced to one hierarchy.
Research-process explainerWhat Peer Review Can and Cannot Tell You About a Study
A practical guide to peer review: what reviewers typically evaluate, what publication does not guarantee, and how readers should interpret a peer-reviewed paper.
Reading workflowHow to Read an Academic Paper Efficiently Without Skimming Past the Important Parts
A practical reading workflow for academic papers that separates relevance screening from critical appraisal and helps graduate students spend time where it matters.
Research literacy
Tools for reading studies, interpreting evidence, and understanding what research can actually support.
Correlation vs. Causation in Health Research: A Practical Guide
A practical guide to correlation and causation in health research, including confounding, reverse causation, randomized trials, and responsible interpretation.
Information-path analysisHow Research Changes From Paper to Headline to Social Media
How a study can change as it moves from research paper to press release, headline, social post, and public understanding, plus what context often gets lost.
Reading workflowHow to Read a Health Study Without Overinterpreting It
A practical order for reading health research: question, design, population, outcomes, results, limitations, and how the paper fits with the wider evidence.
Statistics explainerStatistical Significance: What It Means, and What It Does Not
A plain-language explanation of p-values, statistical significance, effect size, confidence intervals, and why “significant” does not automatically mean important.
Methods explainerSystematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: What They Can and Cannot Tell You
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses can summarize a research field, but their conclusions still depend on study quality, comparability, bias, and analytic choices.
Evidence perspectiveWhy One Study Rarely Settles a Health Question
A single study can be important without being definitive. Here is why replication, study design, random variation, populations, and evidence synthesis matter.