title: The validity of experimental evidence.
abstract: Commonly the assumption is held that correct data only and always will lead to valid deductions. However, analysis of the literature reveals striking examples of erroneous conclusions based upon correct data. The present article intends to show that meticulously performed research in itself is no guarantee for correct conclusions. It appears that investigators, together with the "scientific forum" of their time, interpret the results of experiments in the light of accepted viewpoints, without challenging other or less likely explanations. And since this has happened to the best of us in the past, it is also apt to happen to us today.
authors.affiliation: Department Orthodontics, Dental School, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dibbets
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001846:Bone Development; D006801:Humans; D008445:Maxillofacial Development; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards*; D012886:Skull / Q000254:growth & development*