CDZ On becoming well informed

[usmbguest5318]

Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.
-- Robert McKee​

Introduction:

What makes for a good doctor, economist, accountant, psychologist, lawyer, physicist or nearly any other profession? Some things one might think important are in fact, irrelevant. For instance, one's grades in graduate, law or medical school are important while one is in school, but the instant one obtains one's professional certification, one is as good as everyone else having that certification and better than everyone who does not. The thing is that once one is "official," to stay that way, one must engage in continuing education for as long as one wants to practice in that field. What correlates best with one's being very good at one's profession is being well informed, and the way to do that is to read journals. I don’t know whether that means good professionals read more journals or reading more journals makes a better professional.

The thing is that the very same thing that make for good professionals make for good citizens. It's every bit as important for laymen to be well apprised of "what's what" with regard to the topics of the day. This is as true now as it was in the Founder's days. Jefferson had some six thousand books in his library so he could be an informed contributor to discussions that captured his interest. The Renaissance had officially passed by Jefferson's day, but he was nonetheless a "Renaissance Man." Modern citizens blessed with the freedoms of democracy must also be exactly that, and the way to do so is to supplement the reading one had to do in school -- the foundational content that we all must have mastered as kids so we can use it as adults -- by reading journal articles. There's just too much information to do it any other way.​

The Challenge:

Of course, few of us aim to match the knowledge and contextual expertise of professionals in a discipline that isn't our own career field, yet given the complexity of issues that confront us, we each have a duty to understand them well, well enough at least to make an independently arrived at and well informed decision about them. To do that one must quickly "get up to speed" without having to read two dozen text books, gain thousands of hours of experience, and so on.

It used to be that one could do that by turning on the "boob tube" and watching the news, but back then, news wasn't a commercial affair. It was what it was, but whether one liked the news didn't matter. That, of course, is no longer so, yet one must still obtain information that, regardless of what one thinks about it, one has a way to assess its rigor and quality.

In spite of the internet rapidly gaining a strong foothold as a quick source of obtaining information, reading journal articles, whether from print or electronic media, still remains the most common way of acquiring new information for most of us who give a damn about being well informed and forming sound cogently defensible points of view. Newspaper reports or novels can be read in an insouciant manner, but reading research reports and scientific articles requires concentration and meticulous approach.

These days the only places publishing information of that sort are journals. Regardless of the topic, journals are the place to go for the highest quality and most reliable information one can obtain. With more than 2.5 million new English-language scientific papers are published each year in more than 28,000 [peer-reviewed] journals, there's at least one journal for every topic one can imagine, and likely some that one cannot imagine."

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.
-- Samuel Johnson

​

Reading Journal Articles:

Reading journal articles can seem daunting [1], but so long as one doesn't allow it to be it isn't, and insofar as journal reading allows one to keep abreast of progress in a given discipline and aprises one of current trends, it's immensely more productive than is reading "regular" news websites or watching news broadcasts. Even more important given the limited-time world in which many folks dwell, reading them is usually a very quick affair.

Reasons for reading journal articles:

• To get up to date on the status of a given discipline.
• To obtain a solution or solution approach to a specific question.
• To learn about causations and correlations.
• To obtain detailed knowledge on specific topic.
• To discover what findings militate for/against a given view and what be the apt weight or role of the respective findings with regard to the matter under consideration.
• To obtain bibliographical information about related research and analysis.

The trick to reading journal articles is knowing (1) how journal articles are organized, (2) how to choose ones to read, and (3) how then to read them. A great thing about journal articles is that they jam-packed with high quality information and are designed for speed reading. [2] Every journal article will have an abstract and section headings, which means one doesn't need to read the whole document to consume the knowledge it delivers. Lord only knows when I last read an entire journal article; the only time I do is when I feel obliged to challenge (in fact or in my mind) the methodology.

Here's what I typically do:

1. Identify an article that seems to address the topic.
2. Read the abstract.
3. Read the conclusion's first two and last two paragraphs.
   
4. Read the discussion section.
5. Read the introduction or quick-scan through it if it's more than five paragraphs. I do this just to make sure I understand the article's context.
   
6. Read most of the rest of the article if it's just that "worth it." The parts I read in most instances are the rest of the introduction and the rest of the discussion and conclusion.

Steps 2 through 4 take about minute to two minutes. Because of the way journal articles are organized, t's easier to find in a journal article precisely the information one needs to obtain than it is in a mainstream article. That's a great boon.

Several writers/researchers have offered input on how to approach journal articles. Check them out if you'd like. Most of them assume their audience is grad students, undergrads, and professionals who are reading journal articles for more than just their personal intellectual enrichment. One, however, is geared to readers who merely want high quality info so they can have a better understanding of the world in which they live.

• How to Read a Research Article
  
• How to (seriously) read a scientific paper
  
• The Non-Scientist’s Guide to Reading and Understanding a Scientific Paper
  
• How to Read a Scientific Research Paper

A bit about methodology and results:
In the methodology and/or results sections of an article, one will often enough find a lot of math and statistics presented and discussed. One need not be a mathematician to understand those sections. Overwhelmingly, researchers explain what the equations they show mean. What one (a lay reader) needs is a basic understanding of quantitative analytical methods and what be the strengths and weaknesses, thus the applicability, of them.

If one is inclined to read the methodology and detailed analytical results:

• Methodology --> This section gives the technical details of how the experiments were carried out. In most of the research articles, every detail is rarely included but there is always enough information to understand how the study was carried out so that reviewers who want to can (1) replicate the study using their own data, test subjects, etc. [3] The methodology section includes descriptive information about things such as the number of subjects included in a study and their categorization, sampling methods, data point and/or test subject inclusion criteria (who can be in) and exclusion criteria (who cannot be in), and the germane dependent and independent variables in any given test procedure chosen can be derived by reading this section.
• Results --> This section provides details about the data collected and, in turn, put through the study's analytical procedures, either in the form of figures, tables and/or graphs. Usually, qualitative interpretation of data doesn't appear in this section; however, statistical analyses appear in this section.
  
  Researchers identify statistically significant and statistically insignificant results; they are required to. Readers must observe whether the researcher used an (or multiple) apt statistical test for analysis and whether the level of significance was appropriate to the nature of the study. To appreciate the choice of a statistical test, one requires an understanding of the hypothesis being tested. The list below provides a list of commonly used statistical tests. Explication of these tests is beyond the scope of this post. Suffice to say that it's not only important to know whether a difference or association is statistically significant but also to appreciate whether it is germane to the research context.
  • Descriptive statistics
    • Mean, median, range and std. deviation
    • Proportions and rates
    • Tables and graphs
    • Sensitivity and specificity
  • Inferential statistics
    • Parametric testing (quantitative)
      • Z-tests -- Compare two sample means or proportions
      • Student tests
        • Difference between means of two data groupings
        • Unpaired t-test
        • Paired t-test
      • Variance analysis
      • Pearson correlation coefficient -- test strength of association of two variables
      • Linear Regression -- Predict a variable's value based on one or more variables
    • Non-parametric testing (quantitative)
      • Wilcoxon -- matched data
      • Mann-Whitney -- two independent groups
      • Kruskal-Wallis -- compare three or more groups
    • Non-parametric testing (qualitative)
      • Chi-square
      • McNemar
      • Fisher

If one has any concern about the applicability of the article's conclusion to the matter one is considering, these are the sections to read. That said, even having mastered the math that one sees in these sections, I'm not going to pretend reading these two parts is "quick reading." It can be if one's looking for a very specific figure or result within this section, but if one is intent on fully following the researcher's experimental/observational and analytical journey, or on credibly criticizing the study, one's gotta read these sections.

Discussion: If you read only one part of the paper, read this:
This is far and away the most important section of a journal article. It's where the author answers the research questions, explains the import of the analysis, and interprets the data. Often, the author(s) compares his/her results with those obtained in other studies, explaining in what aspects they are different or similar and reconciling, vis-a-vis the overarching relevant theory(s), the differences among them. No new data should appear under discussion and no information from other sections will generally be repeated. In addition, and perhaps most importantly for lay readers, this section discusses the various strengths and limitations/shortcomings of the study.

Conclusions:
Even though I read the conclusion first, sometimes they don't "gel" in one's mind; thus it's prudent to read it again, not only because after perusing the rest of the article, the conclusion may make sense to one, but aos to confirm whether what one had inferred initially is correct. If the conclusion had not made sense earlier, it may make sense after having perused through the entire article. Sometimes, conclusions are in the discussion section, making them harder to locate. That is what it is.​

Conclusion:

Am I suggesting that one cease and desist with reading mainstream publications? Of course not. [4] What I'm saying is read mainstream articles and read journal content to determine whether the mainstream information and analysis one encounters holds water, as it were.



The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced.
-- Seneca, Natural Questions


​

Endnotes

The endnote content is not the topic of this post -- just as they aren't the topic of a paper -- they're merely supplementary info I opted to share:​

1. A tongue-in-cheek essay about the writing style of many journals and process of reading journals --> How to read a scientific paper.
   
   Can you imagine if mainstream magazine articles were like science papers? Picture a Time cover story with 48 authors. Or a piece in The Economist that required, after every object described, a parenthetical listing of the company that produced the object and the city where that company is based. Or a People editorial about Jimmy Kimmel that could only be published following a rigorous review process by experts in the field of Jimmy Kimmel.
   -- Adam Ruben
2. Durbin has written an excellent exposition of how journal articles are structured: How to Read a Scientific Research Paper. His target audience is medical professionals, but that doesn't matter. Journal papers are journal papers. The structure is the same.
3. Few if any researchers will merely replicate a study, the exception being when there's a genuine evidence from what's given in the paper that it's author(s) faked something. Not many folks replicate studies because, well, what's the point? Everyone's well beyond high school; nobody's "checking one's addition," so to speak.
   
   What reviewers and other researchers check/retest is the theory applied, not the specific application of it in a given paper. The reason for that is partly because doing so doesn't add to humanity's body of knowledge and partly because one doesn't get any credit for doing that which has already been done.
   
   
   
4. For an interesting but brief look at what some leaders and principals read see: What 16 Successful People Read In The Morning. For the life of me, I don't know why I rarely see conservatives here citing content from The Economist and Financial Times, despite both having conservative editorial boards and neither being a propaganda rag....But that's a discussion topic for another thread, not this one.

• Scientific research paper, journal article, science journal, etc....they're all just different terms for the same thing: research and analysis conducted in accordance with with rigor of logical thought and analysis. Such articles exist for mathematics, social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, applied natural sciences (engineering, kinesiology, medicine, animal husbandry, etc.), and, of course, applied social science and humanities (aka business)..

​

 

[MaryAnne11]

Your post was very well written, did not take any Political sides and should be a must for any one who steps into the Voting booth.

Thank you.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Your post was very well written, did not take any Political sides and should be a must for any one who steps into the Voting booth.

Thank you.

YW. Thank you.

 

[MaryAnne11]

I wish many more would take the time to research, investigate, question so they could make wiser decisions.

 

[miketx]

I wish many more would take the time to research, investigate, question so they could make wiser decisions.

With the level of deception and media bias and criminals on every corner, it's a miracle if anyone can find what is true or not.

 

[MaryAnne11]

I wish many more would take the time to research, investigate, question so they could make wiser decisions.

With the level of deception and media bias and criminals on every corner, it's a miracle if anyone can find what is true or not.

Posts like that just prove what the top post was about.

Educate yourself. Quit sitting in front of the boob tube and sort out the truth. Think for yourself.

Note here,I did not vote for President Obama the first time because I felt I did not know enough about him.

The second time it was clear his actions were to try and fix the economy that was broken.

But the top post was about what we need to do, nothing about Politics.

I prefer to learn, change my mind as I know more.

 

[MaryAnne11]

This guy is good enough to invent sliced bread soon.

Here's an observation for you, look at many of the liberal threads, we have cut-n-paste like this one. We also have almost instantaneous threads when the story is just out from liberals, where is your indepth analysis there? They also choose to attach an emotion to the subject, hardly research worthy.

Do you have any idea of what the OP/thread is actually about? I have to ask because your remarks don't address the thread topic, not even close.

Well , I tried to stick to the subject of your well thought out top post, but I failed,too.

I read it word for word because that is why I frequent these boards.

But thanks, it is well worth the read.

 

[Dan Stubbs]

Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.
-- Robert McKee​

Introduction:

What makes for a good doctor, economist, accountant, psychologist, lawyer, physicist or nearly any other profession? Some things one might think important are in fact, irrelevant. For instance, one's grades in graduate, law or medical school are important while one is in school, but the instant one obtains one's professional certification, one is as good as everyone else having that certification and better than everyone who does not. The thing is that once one is "official," to stay that way, one must engage in continuing education for as long as one wants to practice in that field. What correlates best with one's being very good at one's profession is being well informed, and the way to do that is to read journals. I don’t know whether that means good professionals read more journals or reading more journals makes a better professional.

The thing is that the very same thing that make for good professionals make for good citizens. It's every bit as important for laymen to be well apprised of "what's what" with regard to the topics of the day. This is as true now as it was in the Founder's days. Jefferson had some six thousand books in his library so he could be an informed contributor to discussions that captured his interest. The Renaissance had officially passed by Jefferson's day, but he was nonetheless a "Renaissance Man." Modern citizens blessed with the freedoms of democracy must also be exactly that, and the way to do so is to supplement the reading one had to do in school -- the foundational content that we all must have mastered as kids so we can use it as adults -- by reading journal articles. There's just too much information to do it any other way.​

The Challenge:

Of course, few of us aim to match the knowledge and contextual expertise of professionals in a discipline that isn't our own career field, yet given the complexity of issues that confront us, we each have a duty to understand them well, well enough at least to make an independently arrived at and well informed decision about them. To do that one must quickly "get up to speed" without having to read two dozen text books, gain thousands of hours of experience, and so on.

It used to be that one could do that by turning on the "boob tube" and watching the news, but back then, news wasn't a commercial affair. It was what it was, but whether one liked the news didn't matter. That, of course, is no longer so, yet one must still obtain information that, regardless of what one thinks about it, one has a way to assess its rigor and quality.

In spite of the internet rapidly gaining a strong foothold as a quick source of obtaining information, reading journal articles, whether from print or electronic media, still remains the most common way of acquiring new information for most of us who give a damn about being well informed and forming sound cogently defensible points of view. Newspaper reports or novels can be read in an insouciant manner, but reading research reports and scientific articles requires concentration and meticulous approach.

These days the only places publishing information of that sort are journals. Regardless of the topic, journals are the place to go for the highest quality and most reliable information one can obtain. With more than 2.5 million new English-language scientific papers are published each year in more than 28,000 [peer-reviewed] journals, there's at least one journal for every topic one can imagine, and likely some that one cannot imagine."

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.
-- Samuel Johnson

​

Reading Journal Articles:

Reading journal articles can seem daunting [1], but so long as one doesn't allow it to be it isn't, and insofar as journal reading allows one to keep abreast of progress in a given discipline and aprises one of current trends, it's immensely more productive than is reading "regular" news websites or watching news broadcasts. Even more important given the limited-time world in which many folks dwell, reading them is usually a very quick affair.

Reasons for reading journal articles:

• To get up to date on the status of a given discipline.
• To obtain a solution or solution approach to a specific question.
• To learn about causations and correlations.
• To obtain detailed knowledge on specific topic.
• To discover what findings militate for/against a given view and what be the apt weight or role of the respective findings with regard to the matter under consideration.
• To obtain bibliographical information about related research and analysis.

The trick to reading journal articles is knowing (1) how journal articles are organized, (2) how to choose ones to read, and (3) how then to read them. A great thing about journal articles is that they jam-packed with high quality information and are designed for speed reading. [2] Every journal article will have an abstract and section headings, which means one doesn't need to read the whole document to consume the knowledge it delivers. Lord only knows when I last read an entire journal article; the only time I do is when I feel obliged to challenge (in fact or in my mind) the methodology.

Here's what I typically do:

1. Identify an article that seems to address the topic.
2. Read the abstract.
3. Read the conclusion's first two and last two paragraphs.
   
4. Read the discussion section.
5. Read the introduction or quick-scan through it if it's more than five paragraphs. I do this just to make sure I understand the article's context.
   
6. Read most of the rest of the article if it's just that "worth it." The parts I read in most instances are the rest of the introduction and the rest of the discussion and conclusion.

Steps 2 through 4 take about minute to two minutes. Because of the way journal articles are organized, t's easier to find in a journal article precisely the information one needs to obtain than it is in a mainstream article. That's a great boon.

Several writers/researchers have offered input on how to approach journal articles. Check them out if you'd like. Most of them assume their audience is grad students, undergrads, and professionals who are reading journal articles for more than just their personal intellectual enrichment. One, however, is geared to readers who merely want high quality info so they can have a better understanding of the world in which they live.

• How to Read a Research Article
  
• How to (seriously) read a scientific paper
  
• The Non-Scientist’s Guide to Reading and Understanding a Scientific Paper
  
• How to Read a Scientific Research Paper

A bit about methodology and results:
In the methodology and/or results sections of an article, one will often enough find a lot of math and statistics presented and discussed. One need not be a mathematician to understand those sections. Overwhelmingly, researchers explain what the equations they show mean. What one (a lay reader) needs is a basic understanding of quantitative analytical methods and what be the strengths and weaknesses, thus the applicability, of them.

If one is inclined to read the methodology and detailed analytical results:

• Methodology --> This section gives the technical details of how the experiments were carried out. In most of the research articles, every detail is rarely included but there is always enough information to understand how the study was carried out so that reviewers who want to can (1) replicate the study using their own data, test subjects, etc. [3] The methodology section includes descriptive information about things such as the number of subjects included in a study and their categorization, sampling methods, data point and/or test subject inclusion criteria (who can be in) and exclusion criteria (who cannot be in), and the germane dependent and independent variables in any given test procedure chosen can be derived by reading this section.
• Results --> This section provides details about the data collected and, in turn, put through the study's analytical procedures, either in the form of figures, tables and/or graphs. Usually, qualitative interpretation of data doesn't appear in this section; however, statistical analyses appear in this section.
  
  Researchers identify statistically significant and statistically insignificant results; they are required to. Readers must observe whether the researcher used an (or multiple) apt statistical test for analysis and whether the level of significance was appropriate to the nature of the study. To appreciate the choice of a statistical test, one requires an understanding of the hypothesis being tested. The list below provides a list of commonly used statistical tests. Explication of these tests is beyond the scope of this post. Suffice to say that it's not only important to know whether a difference or association is statistically significant but also to appreciate whether it is germane to the research context.
  • Descriptive statistics
    • Mean, median, range and std. deviation
    • Proportions and rates
    • Tables and graphs
    • Sensitivity and specificity
  • Inferential statistics
    • Parametric testing (quantitative)
      • Z-tests -- Compare two sample means or proportions
      • Student tests
        • Difference between means of two data groupings
        • Unpaired t-test
        • Paired t-test
      • Variance analysis
      • Pearson correlation coefficient -- test strength of association of two variables
      • Linear Regression -- Predict a variable's value based on one or more variables
    • Non-parametric testing (quantitative)
      • Wilcoxon -- matched data
      • Mann-Whitney -- two independent groups
      • Kruskal-Wallis -- compare three or more groups
    • Non-parametric testing (qualitative)
      • Chi-square
      • McNemar
      • Fisher

If one has any concern about the applicability of the article's conclusion to the matter one is considering, these are the sections to read. That said, even having mastered the math that one sees in these sections, I'm not going to pretend reading these two parts is "quick reading." It can be if one's looking for a very specific figure or result within this section, but if one is intent on fully following the researcher's experimental/observational and analytical journey, or on credibly criticizing the study, one's gotta read these sections.

Discussion: If you read only one part of the paper, read this:
This is far and away the most important section of a journal article. It's where the author answers the research questions, explains the import of the analysis, and interprets the data. Often, the author(s) compares his/her results with those obtained in other studies, explaining in what aspects they are different or similar and reconciling, vis-a-vis the overarching relevant theory(s), the differences among them. No new data should appear under discussion and no information from other sections will generally be repeated. In addition, and perhaps most importantly for lay readers, this section discusses the various strengths and limitations/shortcomings of the study.

Conclusions:
Even though I read the conclusion first, sometimes they don't "gel" in one's mind; thus it's prudent to read it again, not only because after perusing the rest of the article, the conclusion may make sense to one, but aos to confirm whether what one had inferred initially is correct. If the conclusion had not made sense earlier, it may make sense after having perused through the entire article. Sometimes, conclusions are in the discussion section, making them harder to locate. That is what it is.​

Conclusion:

Am I suggesting that one cease and desist with reading mainstream publications? Of course not. [4] What I'm saying is read mainstream articles and read journal content to determine whether the mainstream information and analysis one encounters holds water, as it were.



The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced.
-- Seneca, Natural Questions


​

Endnotes

The endnote content is not the topic of this post -- just as they aren't the topic of a paper -- they're merely supplementary info I opted to share:​

1. A tongue-in-cheek essay about the writing style of many journals and process of reading journals --> How to read a scientific paper.
   
   Can you imagine if mainstream magazine articles were like science papers? Picture a Time cover story with 48 authors. Or a piece in The Economist that required, after every object described, a parenthetical listing of the company that produced the object and the city where that company is based. Or a People editorial about Jimmy Kimmel that could only be published following a rigorous review process by experts in the field of Jimmy Kimmel.
   -- Adam Ruben
2. Durbin has written an excellent exposition of how journal articles are structured: How to Read a Scientific Research Paper. His target audience is medical professionals, but that doesn't matter. Journal papers are journal papers. The structure is the same.
3. Few if any researchers will merely replicate a study, the exception being when there's a genuine evidence from what's given in the paper that it's author(s) faked something. Not many folks replicate studies because, well, what's the point? Everyone's well beyond high school; nobody's "checking one's addition," so to speak.
   
   What reviewers and other researchers check/retest is the theory applied, not the specific application of it in a given paper. The reason for that is partly because doing so doesn't add to humanity's body of knowledge and partly because one doesn't get any credit for doing that which has already been done.
   
   
   
4. For an interesting but brief look at what some leaders and principals read see: What 16 Successful People Read In The Morning. For the life of me, I don't know why I rarely see conservatives here citing content from The Economist and Financial Times, despite both having conservative editorial boards and neither being a propaganda rag....But that's a discussion topic for another thread, not this one.

• Scientific research paper, journal article, science journal, etc....they're all just different terms for the same thing: research and analysis conducted in accordance with with rigor of logical thought and analysis. Such articles exist for mathematics, social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, applied natural sciences (engineering, kinesiology, medicine, animal husbandry, etc.), and, of course, applied social science and humanities (aka business)..

​

You put forth much info, I for one judge anyone's writings on if it has any basis and if it written with some truth. This applies to any writings anywhere. You can find many examples on this message boards. Left and right propaganda with no truths or basis. Example: Did Clinton break the law? Is the probe on President Trump a political move by his ____________ fill in the blank. Many examples are found in the "Rise and Fall of Hitler". I like to have the written word to convince me with facts or at lease a reference to the point they wish to make.

 

[CHSeeman]

The author of this article does an excellent job of explaining the concept of research. Very well done.

it is correct in every aspect.

however, I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

This affects anything written that is not absolute truth, however, there are few absolute truths.

an example of an absolute truth is the existence of gravity. An absolute truth is something that is true all the time. Try taking a book holding it chest high and releasing it. Tbe book will always fall to the ground. However, many people confuse truth with the amount or level that they have in something.

a perfect example of this is climate change: climate change is a perfect example of science by consensus. You can not have an absolute truth if you need it verified by consensus. The existence of gravity is an absolute truth not a consensus of agreement by some scientist. Tbe principles of climate change do not always hold true.

when discussing something that is not an absolute truth: You get into the realm of theory which relates directly to one's opinion.

for example in my own field of study (accounting) most experts believe that business managers need to use formal financial statements to make business decisions. This is not an absolute truth this is a group of people's professional opinion. I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions. Even though I have evidence that business managers can make effective decision without using formal financial statements this could never be an absolute truth because there will always or could always be one person who can not make business decisions so therefore my theory even with my findings can not be an absolute truth.

 

[usmbguest5318]

This guy is good enough to invent sliced bread soon.

Here's an observation for you, look at many of the liberal threads, we have cut-n-paste like this one. We also have almost instantaneous threads when the story is just out from liberals, where is your indepth analysis there? They also choose to attach an emotion to the subject, hardly research worthy.

Do you have any idea of what the OP/thread is actually about? I have to ask because your remarks don't address the thread topic, not even close.

Well , I tried to stick to the subject of your well thought out top post, but I failed,too.

I read it word for word because that is why I frequent these boards.

But thanks, it is well worth the read.

The OP is essentially a "how to" on reading journal articles. That's why I wrote into the OP nothing, not one word, having to do with liberals, conservatives, who is or isn't well informed, no poletc.

Your post...did not take any Political sides

True that. There's no side to take as goes how to read a journal article, particularly one that covers a matter about which one isn't an expert.

Given the tone and topic of the OP -- the title is equally neutral; all it does is inform the reader the thread will be about becoming well informed [1] -- fitting and on-topic responses entail:

(1) sharing one's own process for reading journal articles, or
(2) sharing one's own process becoming well informed, and
(3) doing so in a seriously rather than jocularly.​

That's it. The OP isn't even an editorial.

Why did I write the OP? Mainly because (1) I know that reading journal article can be daunting, particularly to folks who aren't accustomed to reading them on a regular basis and (2) journal articles offer the most objectively presented information one can get.

 

[usmbguest5318]

The author of this article does an excellent job of explaining the concept of research. Very well done.

it is correct in every aspect.

Thank you. That is the point of the OP. Not more and not less.

 

[usmbguest5318]

I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If you can redact self-identifying information from it so as to preserve your anonymity and uploaded it as a PDF reply to this post, I would enjoy reading your research.

 

[CHSeeman]

Here it is. its not very technical in terms of accounting theory.

I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If you can redact self-identifying information from it so as to preserve your anonymity and uploaded it as a PDF reply to this post, I would enjoy reading your research.

I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If you can redact self-identifying information from it so as to preserve your anonymity and uploaded it as a PDF reply to this post, I would enjoy reading your research.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Here it is. its not very technical in terms of accounting theory.

I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If you can redact self-identifying information from it so as to preserve your anonymity and uploaded it as a PDF reply to this post, I would enjoy reading your research.

I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If you can redact self-identifying information from it so as to preserve your anonymity and uploaded it as a PDF reply to this post, I would enjoy reading your research.

TY. Does your paper have a title?

 

[usmbguest5318]

The author of this article does an excellent job of explaining the concept of research. Very well done.

it is correct in every aspect.

however, I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

This affects anything written that is not absolute truth, however, there are few absolute truths.

an example of an absolute truth is the existence of gravity. An absolute truth is something that is true all the time. Try taking a book holding it chest high and releasing it. Tbe book will always fall to the ground. However, many people confuse truth with the amount or level that they have in something.

a perfect example of this is climate change: climate change is a perfect example of science by consensus. You can not have an absolute truth if you need it verified by consensus. The existence of gravity is an absolute truth not a consensus of agreement by some scientist. Tbe principles of climate change do not always hold true.

when discussing something that is not an absolute truth: You get into the realm of theory which relates directly to one's opinion.

for example in my own field of study (accounting) most experts believe that business managers need to use formal financial statements to make business decisions. This is not an absolute truth this is a group of people's professional opinion. I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions. Even though I have evidence that business managers can make effective decision without using formal financial statements this could never be an absolute truth because there will always or could always be one person who can not make business decisions so therefore my theory even with my findings can not be an absolute truth.

Thoughts and comments from the introduction -- I realize some of my remarks may be addressed later in the paper, but I need to note them now so I don't forget to look for them to be later addressed. You may care to read the "blue" text below before addressing the rest, which refers directly to your paper (I am enjoying reading it, BTW)

Because the family business segment of the SMEs population includes such a large part of a country’s economy, SMEs, and specifically SMEs that are family businesses, that have failed, have had a large negative impact on that country’s economy.

Have they? I don't see that you've provided a research reference that supports that assertion.

Altman, Sabato, and Wilson, (2010) found SMEs business leaders, who used financial statements to have made business decisions, were more likely to have had successful businesses than business leaders who did not use them.

The above statement directly refutes your assertion from our CDZ discussion. You wrote:

in my own field of study (accounting) most experts believe that business managers need to use formal financial statements to make business decisions. This is not an absolute truth this is a group of people's professional opinion.

Altman et al's research is quantitative/empirical, not qualitative; thus, unless you are asserting that their methodology was amiss, their findings are way beyond a belief. They didn't express an opinion; they conducted a quantitative analysis based on hard data, as one might say, and reported what their data showed. What were you trying to say? The data lied and Altman et al just articulated an opinion about it?



More importantly, however, in all my 30+ years of management consulting, I have yet to come by any firm managers who use "formal financial statements" (Rather than dwelling on whether a firm prepares financial statements that an independent auditor examines and opines upon, I'm taking "formal financial statements" to mean the assertions contained a firm's trial balance.) to make business decisions. The managers to whom I've delivered services don't do anything with their "formal financial statements" but publish them and talk about them in their 10Ks, 10Qs and so on.

Hell, I didn't use financial statements to run my own firm (a small business by anyone's assessment [1]) and we don't use them to make decisions in the global firm from which I'm about to retire. Nor can I find anything on the Internet that indicates managers of any sort use financial statements to make decisions.

The managers with whom I have had contact primarily use data "sliced and diced" in Excel, ERP and other accounting and operations/customer management systems. They also use tools/techniques that allow them to apply quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. Some of the tools/techniques they use include but are not limited to:

• Decision trees
• Pareto analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Conjoint analysis
• PEST analysis
• Correlation analysis
• Regression analysis
• Experimentation
• Simulations (Monte Carlo)
• Linear optimization
• Forecasting and time series analysis

What manI can't think of any managers -- not one -- who use their financial statements as the principal tool for making a business decision, though most senior managers, particularly CFOs (and their staff) and COOs consider indirectly the impact(s) of given decision alternatives on certain financial statement ratios and assertions. What they're doing, however, is using the internal information (the data in various subledgers) that give rise to financial statement assertions, but the financial statements (and accompanying notes) are merely very high level reports that are little use to firm managers, all of whom have access to far better and more detailed information than is presented at a trial balance level.

At most, folks will a dashboard of sorts that presents a handful of high level ratios or budget-to-actual figures, but that's as close to using financial statement level data as firm managers get. What decision do they make using such high level information? For the most part, the decision to contact someone and ask WTH is going on such that the figure/ratio that's showing up on their dashboard is trending the way it is. [2]

In contrast, outside analysts use formal financial statements and the notes accompanying them to perform analysis of a firm's merits/demerits from the standpoint of making investment decisions. Analysts external to a firm don't have any better financial data about a firm's performance, so, of course, they use financial statements thus.

even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If by "similar" to financial statement information you mean the underlying financial data that aggregates into a financial statement assertions, well, of course, they use that sort of information to make a business decision, and, of course, one need not prepare "formal financial statements" to do so.

I'm wondering now whether you're merely being semantic with your remarks in the CDZ. To wit, you wrote:

however, I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

Well, hell. If one performs methodologically sound quantitative analysis, as do myriad researchers, and the results indicate "X," yes, one can disbelieve "X," but on what basis? Because one's abductively inclined to do so? One can't credibly state "all my (or others') sound research findings indicate 'X,' but I choose to disbelieve 'X' for ABC reason(s).

I can believe anything until I obtain information that soundly refutes the legitimacy of my belief. At that point, I'd have to a complete moron to stand on my belief in the face of material and sound contravening evidence, no matter how much I want to believe whatever I initially did believe. All the believing in the world will not make a belief hold water, as it were.

when discussing something that is not an absolute truth: You get into the realm of theory which relates directly to one's opinion.

I'm not sure just what you're suggesting here. Here is why I'm not sure:

• Partly it seems you're invoking argumentum ad ignorantiam
  6. Argument from Ignorance - Lucid Philosophy
  argument to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
  
  There is, of course, plenty that hasn't been proven deductively as have, say, many mathematical theorems. That's why we have inductive, abductive and deductive reasoning. Of course, ideally, everything would be deductively established, but it's not, so one must rely on inductive reasoning when a thing can't (for whatever practical reason(s)) be shown. Naturally, when one hasn't so much as a cogent inductive argument, then one has no choice but to abduct to a conclusion.
• Partly it seems like you're invoking "it's just a theory." If that be the case, frankly, you'd be the first person I know of who has a science background (social or natural) and who's also deigned to allude to such a notion.
  • It's Just a Theory
  • "Just a Theory": 7 Misused Science Words
    
  • The Scientific Method | Science Exposed
    
  • Scientific Method
  • What Is Science?

Note:

1. FWIW, my firm didn't fail; on the contrary, we were niche pioneers at what we do which is manage change. I and my partners decided to sell the firm to a larger competitor, the firm from which I'm about to retire.
2. The questions asked:

• When the figure/ratio is trending within expectations, no action is taken.
• When the figure/ratio is trending materially better than expectations, the questions tend to be
  • Is there a mistake in the calculation?
  • What happened that is pushing us so far ahead of plan? Can we get more of it?
• When the figure/ratio is trending materially worse than expectations, the questions tend to be:
  • Is there a mistake in the calculation?
  • What happened that is pushing us so far behind plan? What can we do to reverse the trend?

Pervan (2012) found that SMEs business leaders only spent the resources necessary to have financial statements prepared on an annual basis or when required by government regulatory bodies. Altman et al. (2010) found that 60% of SMEs in England filed limited balance sheet information and then only when required by a government regulatory body. Since family businesses are considered a subset of SMEs businesses, it is reasonable to assume that these business leaders also do not use financial statements to make business decisions either.

I'd say it's reasonable to assume that because nobody else (large firm senior managers), for the most part, does either.

• How Effective Managers Use Information Systems
  
• Information as a tool for management decision making: a case study of Singapore

I'm not saying there's nothing to be gained from financial statement analysis; I'm saying financial statement analysis isn't a primary tool used to make most business decisions.

• "Build or buy" supply-chain decisions --> No need for financial statements
• Hire or don't hire decisions --> No need for financial statements
• Upgrade facilities/infrastructure or don't --> No need for financial statements
• Buy or don't buy stock in an unrelated firm --> Financial statements of the other firm are needed
• "Friendly" acquisition of a subsidiary --> The sub had better be sharing far more data than is available in financial statements, but, yes, they'd provide financial statements too.
• Bid on a project/engagement or don't --> No need for financial statements
• Choose a pricing strategy --> No need for financial statements
• Choose an advertising campaign theme --> No need for financial statements
• Select a "buffet" of insurance plans --> No need for financial statements

Furthermore, Karadag (2015) found that SMEs business leaders often prioritized other business functions, such as marketing, production, or customer service, over finance and accounting, which resulted in poor financial management. According to Karadag (2015), poor financial management often led to business failure.

Well, yes. That's what one'd expect to observe.

nature and type

This is just clarification question:
I keep seeing you use that phrase (it appears 12 times in the paper), and I don't know why. "Nature" and "type" are the same things; yes, strictly, "type" is part of "nature," but because that is so, seeing "and" between "nature" and "type" leaves me asking what exactly do you mean. "Nature and extent," as in "nature, timing and extent of business transactions," "nature, timing and extent of audit procedures," and so on indicate three different characteristics of "whatever," whereas "nature and type" don't indicate any different qualities of anything.

On USMB, I wouldn't typically ask for that clarification, but you presented to me a scholarly paper that you wrote, so I feel justified in asking for complete clarity.

Aside:

The thing about being a business owner or senior principal/exec is that one must be adept at all aspects of business management...that is, a generalist when those skills are called for and a specialist when it's appropriate to be so. In
​

Problem Statement Section:

Al-Dajani et al., 2014

I'm a little surprised that you're citing an editorial in a paper of the sort you've written.

I haven't yet checked your references, but are many of the editorial rather than empirical? You use the word "believe" far more than I would expect to see in any study. I'd expect to see verbs like "found," established," "showed," and so on....terms that are far less "wishy washy" than "believe."

You keep saying "believe" as though you perhaps don't accept their findings as probative, or at least preponderantly so. If that's the case, shouldn't you have referred to other researchers' studies, namely ones that you find methodologically sound, thus credible?

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study research was to explore the nature and type of nonfinancial information the business leaders of successful family businesses used on a daily basis to make routine and nonroutine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements.

Understood.

(a) the inherit characteristics that the information presented in financial statements need to contain, as well as the content of the information presented in financial statements.

I don't know whether you meant "inherited" or "inherent." I don't (presently) think the difference or the typo is material.

Again, not something I'd typically mention on USMB, but it's the third typo I recall encountering up to this point in your paper (page 7). (Blame the former instructor in me for even mentioning it.)

Faithful representation, which is a factor of reliability, requires that the financial statement, as prepared by the financial statement preparer, honestly represent the phenomenon that it purports to represent (Okoye & Akenbor, 2014). Judgment of the level that information faithfully represents the phenomenon that it purports to represent is based on three characteristics of the presentation; (a) completeness (b) neutrality (c) level of accuracy

Aside:

With regard to my "Well Informed" post that gave rise to the discussion here, one of the reasons I bothered to discuss how to read journal articles is that, as with audits/auditors, the methodology by which researchers arrived at their findings and conclusions is exposed, thus readers can observe for themselves how representationally faithful the findings and approach indeed are. I've in one way or another referred to the notion of representational faithfulness, albeit not necessarily in an accounting context, quite a few times.
​

Decision useful information is simply all the information a decision - maker uses to make a decision (Williams & Ravenscroft, 2015).

What a bizarre definition.

• How useful really is information that lacks a strong correlation to the subject one is evaluating? If one uses irrelevant or marginally relevant information to make a decision, was that information really relevant? That's why we obtain Pearson coefficients (Chi Square and McNemar analysis if the data are qualitative)...to make sure the information we're using is indeed related enough to be useful.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why would one spend any time making sense of, incorporating into their decision analysis, data/variables that haven't a strong correlation? If the data aren't correlated well, we're back to abductive reasoning, which we could have done quickly and with far less effort than any form of quant (or qual) analysis.

Dandago and Hassan (2013) interpreted the term decision useful information, as used by the FASB, as any information that is useful to present and potential equity investors, lenders and other creditors in making decision; in general terms, decision usefulness information requires that the information be both relevance and reliable.

That definition of "decision useful" makes sense.

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study research was to explore the nature and type of nonfinancial information the business leaders of successful family businesses used on a daily basis to make routine and nonroutine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements.

You said this already.

Actually, as I read on, nearly all of the first two paragraphs of the "Nature of the Study" discussion seemed a repeat of some of the prior section's content.

This study has contributed to the body of knowledge related to family business management by providing information about the nature and type of nonfinancial information currently used by the business leaders of successful family businesses.

??? -- Don't you think it's a bit early in the paper -- you're still in the introduction, after all -- to assert that the study "has contributed to the body of knowledge." Moreover, won't whether it has done so be self-evident if it passes the muster of peer review (be it your academic advisor(s), dissertation review committee, or the editors/reviewers of the journal in which it's published)?

RQ1. What nonfinancial information was used on a daily basis by the business leader of successful family business to make routine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements?

RQ2. When faced with a nonroutine business decision, what nonfinancial information did the business leader of successful family business use to make that decision in the absence of formal financial statements?

Understood.

The general business problem was that family businesses have had a 75% failure rate (Morris & Kellermans, 2013). This high failure rate was a problem because this sector constitutes between 80% and 95% of all business entities in the United States and was estimated to make up 50% of the total GDP of any developed nation (Al-Dajani et al., 2014).

Here again, you're repeating yourself. Is this an undergraduate research paper?

This study may start the process of integrating the financial information found in formal financial statements with the nonfinancial information that business leaders use and are currently comfortable using to make business decisions.

It's definitely not doing that. Managers have been doing that for ages.

• 2005 -- Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field
• Multi-criteria decision making approaches for supplier evaluation and selection: a literature review
  
• 2016 -- Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: how is it done?
  
• Embedded Case Study Methods: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Knowledge

Okay...I'm tired of writing annotations to your paper. I'll get back to it later...I will respond to most of it....I don't anticipate having to remark upon the methodology, but who knows....

 

[Toronado3800]

I wish many more would take the time to research, investigate, question so they could make wiser decisions.

With the level of deception and media bias and criminals on every corner, it's a miracle if anyone can find what is true or not.

Ey, you probably put it up there soo long ago you forgot you had it but that flaming signature worked its way into the CDZ.

 

[miketx]

I wish many more would take the time to research, investigate, question so they could make wiser decisions.

With the level of deception and media bias and criminals on every corner, it's a miracle if anyone can find what is true or not.

Ey, you probably put it up there soo long ago you forgot you had it but that flaming signature worked its way into the CDZ.

?

 

[Circe]

I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

This affects anything written that is not absolute truth, however, there are few absolute truths.

an example of an absolute truth is the existence of gravity. An absolute truth is something that is true all the time. Try taking a book holding it chest high and releasing it. Tbe book will always fall to the ground. However, many people confuse truth with the amount or level [of belief] that they have in something.

Right. Philip K. Dick said that reality is that which, even if you don't believe in it, is still there.

But the words we fit to a reality may be a problem. For example, many say the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Well, does it? People who figured out that it's not about the sun moving, it's about the EARTH moving got in a lot of trouble with the Catholic Church in the Renaissance. Bruno was burned alive, in fact. I'd say there are almost no facts at all: nearly all facts are opinions, and poorly stated.

...a perfect example of this is climate change: climate change is a perfect example of science by consensus. You can not have an absolute truth if you need it verified by consensus. The existence of gravity is an absolute truth not a consensus of agreement by some scientist. Tbe principles of climate change do not always hold true.

Or ever hold true. It's a bucket of hogwash, just like all the "Ice Age Is Coming" that filled up SCIENCE magazine (which is a famous hard science journal) in the 1970s. I took, and read, much as described by the OP, SCIENCE for 25 years. Scientific family. I was young, I totally believed all the "Ice Age Coming" scare articles. They proved it again and again, but now it's out of fashion and the opposite is in fashion. And now I'm not so naïve as to believe a lot of ha-ha "scientific" stuff and nonsense perpetrated by people desperately climbing for promotion and grants. I know way too much about science to believe in it. Indeed, I stopped taking SCIENCE when they got a truly bad editor that pushed "Global Warming" as a political position that had to be promoted and propagandized to Save The World.

Sheeeeesh. Just keep your mind open, I'd say. Very little is "true" longer than today.

 

[CHSeeman]

The author of this article does an excellent job of explaining the concept of research. Very well done.

it is correct in every aspect.

however, I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

This affects anything written that is not absolute truth, however, there are few absolute truths.

an example of an absolute truth is the existence of gravity. An absolute truth is something that is true all the time. Try taking a book holding it chest high and releasing it. Tbe book will always fall to the ground. However, many people confuse truth with the amount or level that they have in something.

a perfect example of this is climate change: climate change is a perfect example of science by consensus. You can not have an absolute truth if you need it verified by consensus. The existence of gravity is an absolute truth not a consensus of agreement by some scientist. Tbe principles of climate change do not always hold true.

when discussing something that is not an absolute truth: You get into the realm of theory which relates directly to one's opinion.

for example in my own field of study (accounting) most experts believe that business managers need to use formal financial statements to make business decisions. This is not an absolute truth this is a group of people's professional opinion. I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions. Even though I have evidence that business managers can make effective decision without using formal financial statements this could never be an absolute truth because there will always or could always be one person who can not make business decisions so therefore my theory even with my findings can not be an absolute truth.

Thoughts and comments from the introduction -- I realize some of my remarks may be addressed later in the paper, but I need to note them now so I don't forget to look for them to be later addressed. You may care to read the "blue" text below before addressing the rest, which refers directly to your paper (I am enjoying reading it, BTW)

Because the family business segment of the SMEs population includes such a large part of a country’s economy, SMEs, and specifically SMEs that are family businesses, that have failed, have had a large negative impact on that country’s economy.

Have they? I don't see that you've provided a research reference that supports that assertion.

Altman, Sabato, and Wilson, (2010) found SMEs business leaders, who used financial statements to have made business decisions, were more likely to have had successful businesses than business leaders who did not use them.

The above statement directly refutes your assertion from our CDZ discussion. You wrote:

in my own field of study (accounting) most experts believe that business managers need to use formal financial statements to make business decisions. This is not an absolute truth this is a group of people's professional opinion.

Altman et al's research is quantitative/empirical, not qualitative; thus, unless you are asserting that their methodology was amiss, their findings are way beyond a belief. They didn't express an opinion; they conducted a quantitative analysis based on hard data, as one might say, and reported what their data showed. What were you trying to say? The data lied and Altman et al just articulated an opinion about it?



More importantly, however, in all my 30+ years of management consulting, I have yet to come by any firm managers who use "formal financial statements" (Rather than dwelling on whether a firm prepares financial statements that an independent auditor examines and opines upon, I'm taking "formal financial statements" to mean the assertions contained a firm's trial balance.) to make business decisions. The managers to whom I've delivered services don't do anything with their "formal financial statements" but publish them and talk about them in their 10Ks, 10Qs and so on.

Hell, I didn't use financial statements to run my own firm (a small business by anyone's assessment [1]) and we don't use them to make decisions in the global firm from which I'm about to retire. Nor can I find anything on the Internet that indicates managers of any sort use financial statements to make decisions.

The managers with whom I have had contact primarily use data "sliced and diced" in Excel, ERP and other accounting and operations/customer management systems. They also use tools/techniques that allow them to apply quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. Some of the tools/techniques they use include but are not limited to:

• Decision trees
• Pareto analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Conjoint analysis
• PEST analysis
• Correlation analysis
• Regression analysis
• Experimentation
• Simulations (Monte Carlo)
• Linear optimization
• Forecasting and time series analysis

What manI can't think of any managers -- not one -- who use their financial statements as the principal tool for making a business decision, though most senior managers, particularly CFOs (and their staff) and COOs consider indirectly the impact(s) of given decision alternatives on certain financial statement ratios and assertions. What they're doing, however, is using the internal information (the data in various subledgers) that give rise to financial statement assertions, but the financial statements (and accompanying notes) are merely very high level reports that are little use to firm managers, all of whom have access to far better and more detailed information than is presented at a trial balance level.

At most, folks will a dashboard of sorts that presents a handful of high level ratios or budget-to-actual figures, but that's as close to using financial statement level data as firm managers get. What decision do they make using such high level information? For the most part, the decision to contact someone and ask WTH is going on such that the figure/ratio that's showing up on their dashboard is trending the way it is. [2]

In contrast, outside analysts use formal financial statements and the notes accompanying them to perform analysis of a firm's merits/demerits from the standpoint of making investment decisions. Analysts external to a firm don't have any better financial data about a firm's performance, so, of course, they use financial statements thus.

even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If by "similar" to financial statement information you mean the underlying financial data that aggregates into a financial statement assertions, well, of course, they use that sort of information to make a business decision, and, of course, one need not prepare "formal financial statements" to do so.

I'm wondering now whether you're merely being semantic with your remarks in the CDZ. To wit, you wrote:

however, I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

Well, hell. If one performs methodologically sound quantitative analysis, as do myriad researchers, and the results indicate "X," yes, one can disbelieve "X," but on what basis? Because one's abductively inclined to do so? One can't credibly state "all my (or others') sound research findings indicate 'X,' but I choose to disbelieve 'X' for ABC reason(s).

I can believe anything until I obtain information that soundly refutes the legitimacy of my belief. At that point, I'd have to a complete moron to stand on my belief in the face of material and sound contravening evidence, no matter how much I want to believe whatever I initially did believe. All the believing in the world will not make a belief hold water, as it were.

when discussing something that is not an absolute truth: You get into the realm of theory which relates directly to one's opinion.

I'm not sure just what you're suggesting here. Here is why I'm not sure:

• Partly it seems you're invoking argumentum ad ignorantiam
  6. Argument from Ignorance - Lucid Philosophy
  argument to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
  
  There is, of course, plenty that hasn't been proven deductively as have, say, many mathematical theorems. That's why we have inductive, abductive and deductive reasoning. Of course, ideally, everything would be deductively established, but it's not, so one must rely on inductive reasoning when a thing can't (for whatever practical reason(s)) be shown. Naturally, when one hasn't so much as a cogent inductive argument, then one has no choice but to abduct to a conclusion.
• Partly it seems like you're invoking "it's just a theory." If that be the case, frankly, you'd be the first person I know of who has a science background (social or natural) and who's also deigned to allude to such a notion.
  • It's Just a Theory
  • "Just a Theory": 7 Misused Science Words
    
  • The Scientific Method | Science Exposed
    
  • Scientific Method
  • What Is Science?

Note:

1. FWIW, my firm didn't fail; on the contrary, we were niche pioneers at what we do which is manage change. I and my partners decided to sell the firm to a larger competitor, the firm from which I'm about to retire.
2. The questions asked:

• When the figure/ratio is trending within expectations, no action is taken.
• When the figure/ratio is trending materially better than expectations, the questions tend to be
  • Is there a mistake in the calculation?
  • What happened that is pushing us so far ahead of plan? Can we get more of it?
• When the figure/ratio is trending materially worse than expectations, the questions tend to be:
  • Is there a mistake in the calculation?
  • What happened that is pushing us so far behind plan? What can we do to reverse the trend?

Pervan (2012) found that SMEs business leaders only spent the resources necessary to have financial statements prepared on an annual basis or when required by government regulatory bodies. Altman et al. (2010) found that 60% of SMEs in England filed limited balance sheet information and then only when required by a government regulatory body. Since family businesses are considered a subset of SMEs businesses, it is reasonable to assume that these business leaders also do not use financial statements to make business decisions either.

I'd say it's reasonable to assume that because nobody else (large firm senior managers), for the most part, does either.

• How Effective Managers Use Information Systems
  
• Information as a tool for management decision making: a case study of Singapore

I'm not saying there's nothing to be gained from financial statement analysis; I'm saying financial statement analysis isn't a primary tool used to make most business decisions.

• "Build or buy" supply-chain decisions --> No need for financial statements
• Hire or don't hire decisions --> No need for financial statements
• Upgrade facilities/infrastructure or don't --> No need for financial statements
• Buy or don't buy stock in an unrelated firm --> Financial statements of the other firm are needed
• "Friendly" acquisition of a subsidiary --> The sub had better be sharing far more data than is available in financial statements, but, yes, they'd provide financial statements too.
• Bid on a project/engagement or don't --> No need for financial statements
• Choose a pricing strategy --> No need for financial statements
• Choose an advertising campaign theme --> No need for financial statements
• Select a "buffet" of insurance plans --> No need for financial statements

Furthermore, Karadag (2015) found that SMEs business leaders often prioritized other business functions, such as marketing, production, or customer service, over finance and accounting, which resulted in poor financial management. According to Karadag (2015), poor financial management often led to business failure.

Well, yes. That's what one'd expect to observe.

nature and type

This is just clarification question:
I keep seeing you use that phrase (it appears 12 times in the paper), and I don't know why. "Nature" and "type" are the same things; yes, strictly, "type" is part of "nature," but because that is so, seeing "and" between "nature" and "type" leaves me asking what exactly do you mean. "Nature and extent," as in "nature, timing and extent of business transactions," "nature, timing and extent of audit procedures," and so on indicate three different characteristics of "whatever," whereas "nature and type" don't indicate any different qualities of anything.

On USMB, I wouldn't typically ask for that clarification, but you presented to me a scholarly paper that you wrote, so I feel justified in asking for complete clarity.

Aside:

The thing about being a business owner or senior principal/exec is that one must be adept at all aspects of business management...that is, a generalist when those skills are called for and a specialist when it's appropriate to be so. In
​

Problem Statement Section:

Al-Dajani et al., 2014

I'm a little surprised that you're citing an editorial in a paper of the sort you've written.

I haven't yet checked your references, but are many of the editorial rather than empirical? You use the word "believe" far more than I would expect to see in any study. I'd expect to see verbs like "found," established," "showed," and so on....terms that are far less "wishy washy" than "believe."

You keep saying "believe" as though you perhaps don't accept their findings as probative, or at least preponderantly so. If that's the case, shouldn't you have referred to other researchers' studies, namely ones that you find methodologically sound, thus credible?

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study research was to explore the nature and type of nonfinancial information the business leaders of successful family businesses used on a daily basis to make routine and nonroutine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements.

Understood.

(a) the inherit characteristics that the information presented in financial statements need to contain, as well as the content of the information presented in financial statements.

I don't know whether you meant "inherited" or "inherent." I don't (presently) think the difference or the typo is material.

Again, not something I'd typically mention on USMB, but it's the third typo I recall encountering up to this point in your paper (page 7). (Blame the former instructor in me for even mentioning it.)

Faithful representation, which is a factor of reliability, requires that the financial statement, as prepared by the financial statement preparer, honestly represent the phenomenon that it purports to represent (Okoye & Akenbor, 2014). Judgment of the level that information faithfully represents the phenomenon that it purports to represent is based on three characteristics of the presentation; (a) completeness (b) neutrality (c) level of accuracy

Aside:

With regard to my "Well Informed" post that gave rise to the discussion here, one of the reasons I bothered to discuss how to read journal articles is that, as with audits/auditors, the methodology by which researchers arrived at their findings and conclusions is exposed, thus readers can observe for themselves how representationally faithful the findings and approach indeed are. I've in one way or another referred to the notion of representational faithfulness, albeit not necessarily in an accounting context, quite a few times.
​

Decision useful information is simply all the information a decision - maker uses to make a decision (Williams & Ravenscroft, 2015).

What a bizarre definition.

• How useful really is information that lacks a strong correlation to the subject one is evaluating? If one uses irrelevant or marginally relevant information to make a decision, was that information really relevant? That's why we obtain Pearson coefficients (Chi Square and McNemar analysis if the data are qualitative)...to make sure the information we're using is indeed related enough to be useful.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why would one spend any time making sense of, incorporating into their decision analysis, data/variables that haven't a strong correlation? If the data aren't correlated well, we're back to abductive reasoning, which we could have done quickly and with far less effort than any form of quant (or qual) analysis.

Dandago and Hassan (2013) interpreted the term decision useful information, as used by the FASB, as any information that is useful to present and potential equity investors, lenders and other creditors in making decision; in general terms, decision usefulness information requires that the information be both relevance and reliable.

That definition of "decision useful" makes sense.

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study research was to explore the nature and type of nonfinancial information the business leaders of successful family businesses used on a daily basis to make routine and nonroutine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements.

You said this already.

Actually, as I read on, nearly all of the first two paragraphs of the "Nature of the Study" discussion seemed a repeat of some of the prior section's content.

This study has contributed to the body of knowledge related to family business management by providing information about the nature and type of nonfinancial information currently used by the business leaders of successful family businesses.

??? -- Don't you think it's a bit early in the paper -- you're still in the introduction, after all -- to assert that the study "has contributed to the body of knowledge." Moreover, won't whether it has done so be self-evident if it passes the muster of peer review (be it your academic advisor(s), dissertation review committee, or the editors/reviewers of the journal in which it's published)?

RQ1. What nonfinancial information was used on a daily basis by the business leader of successful family business to make routine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements?

RQ2. When faced with a nonroutine business decision, what nonfinancial information did the business leader of successful family business use to make that decision in the absence of formal financial statements?

Understood.

The general business problem was that family businesses have had a 75% failure rate (Morris & Kellermans, 2013). This high failure rate was a problem because this sector constitutes between 80% and 95% of all business entities in the United States and was estimated to make up 50% of the total GDP of any developed nation (Al-Dajani et al., 2014).

Here again, you're repeating yourself. Is this an undergraduate research paper?

This study may start the process of integrating the financial information found in formal financial statements with the nonfinancial information that business leaders use and are currently comfortable using to make business decisions.

It's definitely not doing that. Managers have been doing that for ages.

• 2005 -- Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field
• Multi-criteria decision making approaches for supplier evaluation and selection: a literature review
  
• 2016 -- Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: how is it done?
  
• Embedded Case Study Methods: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Knowledge

Okay...I'm tired of writing annotations to your paper. I'll get back to it later...I will respond to most of it....I don't anticipate having to remark upon the methodology, but who knows....

The author of this article does an excellent job of explaining the concept of research. Very well done.

it is correct in every aspect.

however, I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

This affects anything written that is not absolute truth, however, there are few absolute truths.

an example of an absolute truth is the existence of gravity. An absolute truth is something that is true all the time. Try taking a book holding it chest high and releasing it. Tbe book will always fall to the ground. However, many people confuse truth with the amount or level that they have in something.

a perfect example of this is climate change: climate change is a perfect example of science by consensus. You can not have an absolute truth if you need it verified by consensus. The existence of gravity is an absolute truth not a consensus of agreement by some scientist. Tbe principles of climate change do not always hold true.

when discussing something that is not an absolute truth: You get into the realm of theory which relates directly to one's opinion.

for example in my own field of study (accounting) most experts believe that business managers need to use formal financial statements to make business decisions. This is not an absolute truth this is a group of people's professional opinion. I just completed research that could show that even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions. Even though I have evidence that business managers can make effective decision without using formal financial statements this could never be an absolute truth because there will always or could always be one person who can not make business decisions so therefore my theory even with my findings can not be an absolute truth.

Thoughts and comments from the introduction -- I realize some of my remarks may be addressed later in the paper, but I need to note them now so I don't forget to look for them to be later addressed. You may care to read the "blue" text below before addressing the rest, which refers directly to your paper (I am enjoying reading it, BTW)

Because the family business segment of the SMEs population includes such a large part of a country’s economy, SMEs, and specifically SMEs that are family businesses, that have failed, have had a large negative impact on that country’s economy.

Have they? I don't see that you've provided a research reference that supports that assertion.

Altman, Sabato, and Wilson, (2010) found SMEs business leaders, who used financial statements to have made business decisions, were more likely to have had successful businesses than business leaders who did not use them.

The above statement directly refutes your assertion from our CDZ discussion. You wrote:

in my own field of study (accounting) most experts believe that business managers need to use formal financial statements to make business decisions. This is not an absolute truth this is a group of people's professional opinion.

Altman et al's research is quantitative/empirical, not qualitative; thus, unless you are asserting that their methodology was amiss, their findings are way beyond a belief. They didn't express an opinion; they conducted a quantitative analysis based on hard data, as one might say, and reported what their data showed. What were you trying to say? The data lied and Altman et al just articulated an opinion about it?



More importantly, however, in all my 30+ years of management consulting, I have yet to come by any firm managers who use "formal financial statements" (Rather than dwelling on whether a firm prepares financial statements that an independent auditor examines and opines upon, I'm taking "formal financial statements" to mean the assertions contained a firm's trial balance.) to make business decisions. The managers to whom I've delivered services don't do anything with their "formal financial statements" but publish them and talk about them in their 10Ks, 10Qs and so on.

Hell, I didn't use financial statements to run my own firm (a small business by anyone's assessment [1]) and we don't use them to make decisions in the global firm from which I'm about to retire. Nor can I find anything on the Internet that indicates managers of any sort use financial statements to make decisions.

The managers with whom I have had contact primarily use data "sliced and diced" in Excel, ERP and other accounting and operations/customer management systems. They also use tools/techniques that allow them to apply quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. Some of the tools/techniques they use include but are not limited to:

• Decision trees
• Pareto analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Conjoint analysis
• PEST analysis
• Correlation analysis
• Regression analysis
• Experimentation
• Simulations (Monte Carlo)
• Linear optimization
• Forecasting and time series analysis

What manI can't think of any managers -- not one -- who use their financial statements as the principal tool for making a business decision, though most senior managers, particularly CFOs (and their staff) and COOs consider indirectly the impact(s) of given decision alternatives on certain financial statement ratios and assertions. What they're doing, however, is using the internal information (the data in various subledgers) that give rise to financial statement assertions, but the financial statements (and accompanying notes) are merely very high level reports that are little use to firm managers, all of whom have access to far better and more detailed information than is presented at a trial balance level.

At most, folks will a dashboard of sorts that presents a handful of high level ratios or budget-to-actual figures, but that's as close to using financial statement level data as firm managers get. What decision do they make using such high level information? For the most part, the decision to contact someone and ask WTH is going on such that the figure/ratio that's showing up on their dashboard is trending the way it is. [2]

In contrast, outside analysts use formal financial statements and the notes accompanying them to perform analysis of a firm's merits/demerits from the standpoint of making investment decisions. Analysts external to a firm don't have any better financial data about a firm's performance, so, of course, they use financial statements thus.

even though business managers do not prepare formal financial statements they use information similar to that found in formal financial statements to make business decisions.

If by "similar" to financial statement information you mean the underlying financial data that aggregates into a financial statement assertions, well, of course, they use that sort of information to make a business decision, and, of course, one need not prepare "formal financial statements" to do so.

I'm wondering now whether you're merely being semantic with your remarks in the CDZ. To wit, you wrote:

however, I would like to point out that even though research is suppose to be pure it is still being conducted by human beings. Human beings can not put aside all their beliefs.

Well, hell. If one performs methodologically sound quantitative analysis, as do myriad researchers, and the results indicate "X," yes, one can disbelieve "X," but on what basis? Because one's abductively inclined to do so? One can't credibly state "all my (or others') sound research findings indicate 'X,' but I choose to disbelieve 'X' for ABC reason(s).

I can believe anything until I obtain information that soundly refutes the legitimacy of my belief. At that point, I'd have to a complete moron to stand on my belief in the face of material and sound contravening evidence, no matter how much I want to believe whatever I initially did believe. All the believing in the world will not make a belief hold water, as it were.

when discussing something that is not an absolute truth: You get into the realm of theory which relates directly to one's opinion.

I'm not sure just what you're suggesting here. Here is why I'm not sure:

• Partly it seems you're invoking argumentum ad ignorantiam
  6. Argument from Ignorance - Lucid Philosophy
  argument to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com
  
  There is, of course, plenty that hasn't been proven deductively as have, say, many mathematical theorems. That's why we have inductive, abductive and deductive reasoning. Of course, ideally, everything would be deductively established, but it's not, so one must rely on inductive reasoning when a thing can't (for whatever practical reason(s)) be shown. Naturally, when one hasn't so much as a cogent inductive argument, then one has no choice but to abduct to a conclusion.
• Partly it seems like you're invoking "it's just a theory." If that be the case, frankly, you'd be the first person I know of who has a science background (social or natural) and who's also deigned to allude to such a notion.
  • It's Just a Theory
  • "Just a Theory": 7 Misused Science Words
    
  • The Scientific Method | Science Exposed
    
  • Scientific Method
  • What Is Science?

Note:

1. FWIW, my firm didn't fail; on the contrary, we were niche pioneers at what we do which is manage change. I and my partners decided to sell the firm to a larger competitor, the firm from which I'm about to retire.
2. The questions asked:

• When the figure/ratio is trending within expectations, no action is taken.
• When the figure/ratio is trending materially better than expectations, the questions tend to be
  • Is there a mistake in the calculation?
  • What happened that is pushing us so far ahead of plan? Can we get more of it?
• When the figure/ratio is trending materially worse than expectations, the questions tend to be:
  • Is there a mistake in the calculation?
  • What happened that is pushing us so far behind plan? What can we do to reverse the trend?

Pervan (2012) found that SMEs business leaders only spent the resources necessary to have financial statements prepared on an annual basis or when required by government regulatory bodies. Altman et al. (2010) found that 60% of SMEs in England filed limited balance sheet information and then only when required by a government regulatory body. Since family businesses are considered a subset of SMEs businesses, it is reasonable to assume that these business leaders also do not use financial statements to make business decisions either.

I'd say it's reasonable to assume that because nobody else (large firm senior managers), for the most part, does either.

• How Effective Managers Use Information Systems
  
• Information as a tool for management decision making: a case study of Singapore

I'm not saying there's nothing to be gained from financial statement analysis; I'm saying financial statement analysis isn't a primary tool used to make most business decisions.

• "Build or buy" supply-chain decisions --> No need for financial statements
• Hire or don't hire decisions --> No need for financial statements
• Upgrade facilities/infrastructure or don't --> No need for financial statements
• Buy or don't buy stock in an unrelated firm --> Financial statements of the other firm are needed
• "Friendly" acquisition of a subsidiary --> The sub had better be sharing far more data than is available in financial statements, but, yes, they'd provide financial statements too.
• Bid on a project/engagement or don't --> No need for financial statements
• Choose a pricing strategy --> No need for financial statements
• Choose an advertising campaign theme --> No need for financial statements
• Select a "buffet" of insurance plans --> No need for financial statements

Furthermore, Karadag (2015) found that SMEs business leaders often prioritized other business functions, such as marketing, production, or customer service, over finance and accounting, which resulted in poor financial management. According to Karadag (2015), poor financial management often led to business failure.

Well, yes. That's what one'd expect to observe.

nature and type

This is just clarification question:
I keep seeing you use that phrase (it appears 12 times in the paper), and I don't know why. "Nature" and "type" are the same things; yes, strictly, "type" is part of "nature," but because that is so, seeing "and" between "nature" and "type" leaves me asking what exactly do you mean. "Nature and extent," as in "nature, timing and extent of business transactions," "nature, timing and extent of audit procedures," and so on indicate three different characteristics of "whatever," whereas "nature and type" don't indicate any different qualities of anything.

On USMB, I wouldn't typically ask for that clarification, but you presented to me a scholarly paper that you wrote, so I feel justified in asking for complete clarity.

Aside:

The thing about being a business owner or senior principal/exec is that one must be adept at all aspects of business management...that is, a generalist when those skills are called for and a specialist when it's appropriate to be so. In
​

Problem Statement Section:

Al-Dajani et al., 2014

I'm a little surprised that you're citing an editorial in a paper of the sort you've written.

I haven't yet checked your references, but are many of the editorial rather than empirical? You use the word "believe" far more than I would expect to see in any study. I'd expect to see verbs like "found," established," "showed," and so on....terms that are far less "wishy washy" than "believe."

You keep saying "believe" as though you perhaps don't accept their findings as probative, or at least preponderantly so. If that's the case, shouldn't you have referred to other researchers' studies, namely ones that you find methodologically sound, thus credible?

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study research was to explore the nature and type of nonfinancial information the business leaders of successful family businesses used on a daily basis to make routine and nonroutine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements.

Understood.

(a) the inherit characteristics that the information presented in financial statements need to contain, as well as the content of the information presented in financial statements.

I don't know whether you meant "inherited" or "inherent." I don't (presently) think the difference or the typo is material.

Again, not something I'd typically mention on USMB, but it's the third typo I recall encountering up to this point in your paper (page 7). (Blame the former instructor in me for even mentioning it.)

Faithful representation, which is a factor of reliability, requires that the financial statement, as prepared by the financial statement preparer, honestly represent the phenomenon that it purports to represent (Okoye & Akenbor, 2014). Judgment of the level that information faithfully represents the phenomenon that it purports to represent is based on three characteristics of the presentation; (a) completeness (b) neutrality (c) level of accuracy

Aside:

With regard to my "Well Informed" post that gave rise to the discussion here, one of the reasons I bothered to discuss how to read journal articles is that, as with audits/auditors, the methodology by which researchers arrived at their findings and conclusions is exposed, thus readers can observe for themselves how representationally faithful the findings and approach indeed are. I've in one way or another referred to the notion of representational faithfulness, albeit not necessarily in an accounting context, quite a few times.
​

Decision useful information is simply all the information a decision - maker uses to make a decision (Williams & Ravenscroft, 2015).

What a bizarre definition.

• How useful really is information that lacks a strong correlation to the subject one is evaluating? If one uses irrelevant or marginally relevant information to make a decision, was that information really relevant? That's why we obtain Pearson coefficients (Chi Square and McNemar analysis if the data are qualitative)...to make sure the information we're using is indeed related enough to be useful.
  
  
  
  
  
  Why would one spend any time making sense of, incorporating into their decision analysis, data/variables that haven't a strong correlation? If the data aren't correlated well, we're back to abductive reasoning, which we could have done quickly and with far less effort than any form of quant (or qual) analysis.

Dandago and Hassan (2013) interpreted the term decision useful information, as used by the FASB, as any information that is useful to present and potential equity investors, lenders and other creditors in making decision; in general terms, decision usefulness information requires that the information be both relevance and reliable.

That definition of "decision useful" makes sense.

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study research was to explore the nature and type of nonfinancial information the business leaders of successful family businesses used on a daily basis to make routine and nonroutine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements.

You said this already.

Actually, as I read on, nearly all of the first two paragraphs of the "Nature of the Study" discussion seemed a repeat of some of the prior section's content.

This study has contributed to the body of knowledge related to family business management by providing information about the nature and type of nonfinancial information currently used by the business leaders of successful family businesses.

??? -- Don't you think it's a bit early in the paper -- you're still in the introduction, after all -- to assert that the study "has contributed to the body of knowledge." Moreover, won't whether it has done so be self-evident if it passes the muster of peer review (be it your academic advisor(s), dissertation review committee, or the editors/reviewers of the journal in which it's published)?

RQ1. What nonfinancial information was used on a daily basis by the business leader of successful family business to make routine business decisions in the absence of formal financial statements?

RQ2. When faced with a nonroutine business decision, what nonfinancial information did the business leader of successful family business use to make that decision in the absence of formal financial statements?

Understood.

The general business problem was that family businesses have had a 75% failure rate (Morris & Kellermans, 2013). This high failure rate was a problem because this sector constitutes between 80% and 95% of all business entities in the United States and was estimated to make up 50% of the total GDP of any developed nation (Al-Dajani et al., 2014).

Here again, you're repeating yourself. Is this an undergraduate research paper?

This study may start the process of integrating the financial information found in formal financial statements with the nonfinancial information that business leaders use and are currently comfortable using to make business decisions.

It's definitely not doing that. Managers have been doing that for ages.

• 2005 -- Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field
• Multi-criteria decision making approaches for supplier evaluation and selection: a literature review
  
• 2016 -- Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: how is it done?
  
• Embedded Case Study Methods: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Knowledge

Okay...I'm tired of writing annotations to your paper. I'll get back to it later...I will respond to most of it....I don't anticipate having to remark upon the methodology, but who knows....

 

[CHSeeman]

Sorry Xelar: I thought I had written my paper so that anybody can understand but apparently the paper is WAY over your head.

You do realize that over 20 PHD's have already reviewed this and came up with no issues.

There are absolutely no errors in my paper. IT would pretty be best if you did not hurt yourself trying to understand something that you are incapable of comprehending.