Data can always be interpreted in a variety of ways. As you think about your findings, you would be wise to be sceptical, at least initially, about your own preferred explanation. Colleagues can usually be counted on to help you in considering alternative ways of accounting for your results. Many of the problems that arise in the interpretation of data can, however, be avoided if the research is carefully designed. We have discussed some of these issues in Chapters 7 and 8 – for example: are the measurements independent of each other? Is generalisation to another group of subjects limited because of the design? Have the results been affected by the order in which the treatments were presented? Did the observer influence the subjects in some way? Did you unwittingly select the data that fitted a preconceived idea or bias?

In well-designed research these issues will have been considered in advance and appropriate precautions taken. However, problems of interpretation that could have been foreseen often arise through oversight or the sheer practical difficulties of avoiding them. It is often hard, for example, to conduct an experiment ‘blind’. The solution is not to ignore the problem, but rather to acknowledge it. You should be alert to potential difficulties and be honest about how these possibilities might affect interpretation. In this chapter we mention some additional issues that might affect how data are interpreted and discuss the presentation of results to a wider audience.