If you’re “searching for things on the Internet” or “watching YouTube videos” or “reading articles,” some say you aren’t “doing your own research” but merely “consuming content.”

This plays well with the peanut gallery because, as Aldous Huxley noted, the opportunity to maltreat others with good conscience, to misbehave as a form of “righteous indignation,” is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.⁣

What is “research,” though?⁣

The hecklers will often say something like, “it’s skillfully reviewing every study you can find on the matter and determining the balance of the evidence.”⁣

If you consult a dictionary, though, research is “studious inquiry or examination.”

Ferreting around on the internet to find things to watch, read, and listen to is in fact “doing research,” then. The crux, however, is how you go about it. Are you doing good research? ⁣

And that requires more than just scientific literacy. ⁣

So, can you “do good research” if you’re not an educated specialist? Listen to this podcast to find out.