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Question: What does "peer-reviewed" science mean, and why is it important in law?
Answer: Scientists write detailed descriptions of their work for scholarly, or so-called "peer-reviewed," journals. Peer review means that each manuscript submitted to an editor is critically evaluated by other scientists before a decision is made to publish the work. Peer review is important in tort law because Daubert vs. Dow set criteria for what can be admitted in course as scientific evidence; one of the criteria was the theory on which the analyses rests has been subjected to peer-review.
Question: Does peer-review guarantee that published studies are of the highest quality and can always be trusted?
Answer: Unfortunately, the peer-review system is imperfect. Sometimes incomplete and incorrect papers get published in the academic literature. Simply relying on what was published in an esteemed journal without a critical evaluation can lead a person in the wrong direction. Therefore, critical evaluation of the literature is very important even when reading papers from the most prestigious sources.
Question: How can someone whose education has not focused on science critically evaluate the peer-reviewed literature to separate the good from the bad?
Answer: Critical thinking skills, which are honed in law school, should always be applied. However, there is a lot of jargon in fields such as epidemiology, occupational health, and biomechanics. Working with people skilled in these areas can improve the chances of identifying strengths and weaknesses of published studies.
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