Science is not about hard facts. At the core of proper research methods is a series of choices and assumptions made by researchers. Each of those choices impact the value of the study’s results, and as a reader you are presented with the researchers’ interpretations of those results. Shockingly, many readers still take study results for granted and fail to judge and criticise the value of presented outcomes within their own practical context. The BJSM now launches a series of editorials that aim to educate the clinical reader with the tools to form their own balanced opinions about study results.