Are research studies sometimes overrated?
As he looked into the big round almond eyes of his newborn baby, the father silently vowed to himself that he would never make a single mistake when it came to caring for his son. As soon as he and his wife pulled into their driveway and carried their precious bundle of joy up the front steps to their humble home, the father instantly darted into the house. He swiftly disappeared deep into the recesses of his office.
Day and night he spent countless hours locked away diligently reading, studying and scrolling through all the latest research in parenting and baby development. There would be furious knocking on his office door, muffled screaming and yelling, and little scratching noises from curious and tiny fingers. But he ignored all of these distractions, because he was solely focused on preparing himself to be the best possible dad. He only resurfaced for a few moments each day to microwave a quick meal or to use the washroom. But afterwards, he would immediately scurry back into the solitary confines of his locked office.
After many years had passed by, the father finally emerged from his study. He felt like he had sufficient data and research to back up his approach to raising his baby boy. When he confidently skipped over to his son’s nursery and peeked in, he was horrified. For he no longer saw the bright curious eyes of his adoring baby boy. Instead, his eyes crossed paths with the cold and icy glare of a teenager who knew him only as a distant stranger.
There are some of us who may feel like we always need to do more research and study before we are able to tackle any great endeavor. But the one — often overlooked — limitation to research and study is that the data is only accurate when we are examining things in this world that follow a constant law or unchanging pattern. The reason why the data on human behavior almost always expires as soon as it is published, is because people are constantly changing. Strategies or theories formed from these stale slices of data are only a snapshot of what has worked in the past. However, they are not guaranteed to work again; even tomorrow.
