Here are five specific questions to ask yourself as you apply the Law of Parsimony and evaluate knowledge claims. Your answers to these questions may well determine whether you accept or reject a particular claim. Basically, your job is to review who is claiming what and what type of evidence is presented to support the claim. You need to analyze each knowledge claim thoroughly before accepting it. Take a closer look at examining claims beginning with the first question below.
1. What is the claim?
2. Who is making the claim and why are they making it?
3. What type of evidence is the claim based on?
4. What type of statistics were used? What do they show?
5. What alternative explanations are there?
