Strangely enough, in this case you want your research to be crap, or more specifically CRAAP. There is so much information and it's so easy to publish whatever your thoughts are. It's as easy as getting a webpage, writing a bunch of words and publishing it. This is a prime example, while I do my best to make sure the information I am presenting is up to date and can be found on reputable websites, it was easy to write all this down and just hit "publish". Sometimes that's a good things, there are some amazing story tellers out in the world and they have fascinating experiences and opinions. But when it comes to information that you're going to make decisions on, especially for you and your developing family, you want to make sure that the information is as safe and accurate as possible. You can't make a true informed decision without knowing all the information on it.

Going through university for my Bachelors of Science in Nursing, they had a very strong policy on having good-quality evidence and literature. In the academic and professional world "Research" is used specifically for those people truly gathering and writing up data that we then read. The random people you might meet in hospitals asking if you want to be a part of a study. As a nursing student and then as nurse, when I go searching for information to write my papers on, I'm not technically doing "research", I doing a "literature review". Most of what we do now when looking for our own information is technically a literature review.

However, because most people understand that outside of the academic spheres, research means looking in books, articles, journals and internet sources, I'll be using "research" in this blog post. There isn't any need to get hung up on semantics, I understand that when most people tell me they have done research, they have been doing a literature review.

Part of Inkredible Birthing's values is evidence-based learning and informed consent. I am a big supporter of people being able to make decisions and have all of the information available to them to make that decision. Though, sometimes I feel like we, as healthcare providers, aren't able to get the information appropriately to people to make those decisions, and then they go looking for their own answers. There can also be a lack of the personal experience in research, while we can take a look at what's broadly true for everyone, it's not necessarily true for everyone. Every person is a different, every pregnancy is different. So if you are seeking information that's more relatable for you, it's important that you're able to know how to look for the information you need to make your decisions.

The problem really comes with the internet. You can find EVERYTHING on the internet. Possibly things that you never even wanted to know or see. So, how do you find information and can feel confident that it's truly information and not an opinion? Opinions have their usefulness and their place, but sometimes it can get blurry as to if it's opinions or facts. Whenever I'm in search of new information, but I'm not sure about something that I've found, I use the CRAAP Tool.

The CRAAP Tool was created by Sarah Blakeslee and a team of librarians in California State University, Chico in 2004. This was based off the way that librarians used to ensure that the journals and publications they were buying were legitimate and useful. It was adapted as a way to easily see if a website was suitable. While it's not perfect (nothing ever is) there is a lot of usefulness in remembering and using this simple tool. The most important part is that it makes you think a little, and allows you to slow down and really read the information that's being presented to you.

For example, if I come across an article that is stating that formula feeding is just as good as breastfeeding, I want to look into a bit more. All my training and experiences have told me that breastfeeding is the best, and formula is a viable back-up, but should be a last resort unless medically indicated. What is it that I'm going to look for before I run off with this new information and tell everyone?

First up:
Currency. In this case currency is not discussing how to purchase this, it's when was it written? I go looking for the publication date and it tells me that it was published in 1950/60s when they did actually believe that formula feeding was just as good as breastfeeding. That solves my dilemma easily, and I can leave knowing that this is just very old knowledge and it's no longer relevant. However, what if it was written two years ago? I have to go looking a little deeper.

Relevancy. Is this something that is actually what I want to know about? This means I'll have to read a little more into it. What exactly are we comparing between Breastfeeding and Formula Feeding? Sometimes the topic makes it clear that this is relevant to what you're looking at, but sometimes it's a little harder to tell. I'll quickly look through this article, and if it's actually something that I'll need to know, I'll keep going.

Let's say it does pertain to what I'm looking for, this article is actually talking about formula being on par with breastmilk. The next thing I want to look at it Authority. Authority, while a word that can bring a lot of negativity into a conversation, it's really meaning who were the people that wrote and sponsored this. I'll go looking at the authors of the article, check out if the letters behind their names are things that I recognize or are easily googled to find out what they mean. And a little more importantly, I'm going to go looking for who sponsored the writing in this article. It's here that I would expect to find something like Nestle, Abbott Laboratories or Mead Johnson, especially for the example that I'm working with. Why these three? Because they are some of the biggest formula-producing companies in North America. It's not uncommon for big corporations to fund studies that produce results in their favor. It's not good science, it's what we call "bias". They are writing the article, not to make sure that babies have the best possible food, but so they can make money.

Let's say, shockingly, there are no sponsors, the authors don't seem to have any sort of bias towards formula (not selling anything, not creating a new formula) and they are actually believing in what they are writing.

We then move onto the second 'A' of the CRAAP, which is Accuracy. Is what they are saying accurate? Even as simple as are there any spelling errors? Do they use sources to support what they are saying? Does it seem like they are looking at all sides of the issue or does it seem like they are leaving things out? If I'm looking up how many suckers there are on an octopus arm (up to 280 per arm depending on species!), I'm pretty comfortable looking at a blog of someone who loves octopus. But if I'm looking at something that might affect people's health, my own or others, I'm going to be a lot more wary of what is being said.

The last thing we look for is Purpose. This has a similar point in authority when we talked about why they would write it. If it's a formula company, then they likely have profit in mind, not health. We want to know if this is fact or an opinion so that we might file the information appropriately in our search. As I said, opinions can be important and have their place, but they don't overtake facts. What is the purpose of the website? Are they selling something? Is it for education? Are they trying to convince you or something?

Not all of these have to be answered, and even if they are, all the answers don't have to be completely bias-free. The important thing is that you are looking at these, and allowing yourself to think about the information being presenting. This helps you figure out if the website is trying to convince you things, or if they are trying to give information.

I have never come across an article that states that formula feeding is as good as breastfeeding, but I have come across other more nuanced things that can have a bigger impact. I have come across articles that I firmly thought were wrong and didn't support my own current understanding, but have looked through them anyways. Some of those I discarded for failing the CRAAP test too much, others have made me look a little deeper into my own understanding of topics, be a little more open minded and to help improve my practice.

So when reading things about birth, parenthood and life, be open-minded and but read carefully. The biggest down-fall when looking for research is already having made a conclusion, and only searching for things that match. A starting place to make sure that your thinking thoroughly about information, is making sure that your research is CRAAP.