Maybe you’ve had this happen to you: You and a friend both observe the same thing, such as a music video, but then you come to different conclusions about it. A similar situation occurs in the scientific community: Scientists observe the same facts, but they reach different conclusions about why something occurred.
If you know and understand several different interpretations of the facts about your topic, you’re a better informed researcher. This kind of deep knowledge can also help you establish your own views about a topic. For example, if you’re researching pandemics, you might find one article that claims pandemics spread rapidly today because of how frequently people travel. Then you might read another article that makes a different claim—perhaps people with weak immune systems catch and spread illnesses, and this is what causes pandemics to occur.
You may decide that one of these interpretations is better than the other. But you also might think that both factors cause the spread of pandemics, and include these two different interpretations in your own report. To see another example of facts with two different interpretations, compare the two articles below. As you read, notice which details the writers indicate are facts and which statements seem like interpretations.
In general, sharks do not eat humans.
Despite their scary reputation, sharks rarely ever attack humans and would much rather feed on fish and marine mammals.
Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of their normal diets. Sharks are opportunistic feeders, but most sharks primarily feed on smaller fish and invertebrates. Some of the larger shark species prey on seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.
Sharks have been known to attack humans when they are confused or curious. If a shark sees a human splashing in the water, it may try to investigate, leading to an accidental attack. Still, sharks have more to fear from humans than we do of them. Humans hunt sharks for their meat, internal organs, and skin in order to make products such as shark fin soup, lubricants, and leather.
from NOAA website: Do Sharks Eat People
Most shark-induced human fatalities are followed by widespread and unselective culling campaigns that have limited effectiveness and may have high ecological costs for threatened species. The blanket culling strategy implicitly assumes that incident risk is directly correlated with shark density, an assumption that has yet to be demonstrated. We present the alternative hypothesis that incidents are more likely to be caused by behavioral variability among individual sharks than due to shark density. Throughout their ontogenetic development, large species of sharks opportunistically establish a diet that is rarely, if ever, inclusive of humans as a food source. We propose that, some animals with specific behaviors (including boldness) may potentially pose a higher risk than conspecifics. Under this scenario, the risk of a shark attack in a given area would relate to the presence of a limited number of high-risk individuals rather than shark density.
from “Individual shark profiling: An innovative and environmentally responsible approach forselectively managing human fatalities” by Eric E. G. Clua and John D. C. Linnell
Did you see some differences in these two expert opinions? Were they similar in any way? Try answering each of these questions for yourself. Then click the question and compare your answer to the sample.
What fact forms the basis for both of these articles?
To what does the author of the NOAA article attribute shark attacks?
In the article on the right, how do Clua and Linnell interpret the fact that sharks attack humans?
How does knowing both of these views help you better understand shark attacks?
| Your Responses | Sample Answers |
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Sharks sometimes attack and kill humans even though humans are not sharks’ preferred food. |
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This author states that sharks attack when they are confused or curious about humans splashing in the water. |
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They believe that only some sharks with certain characteristics, such as boldness, will attack humans and then they will continue to attack them because they acquire a taste for humans. |
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First of all, they tell you that scientists are not sure why sharks attack humans, and secondly, they tell you that sharks may attack humans for a variety of different reasons. |
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