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Devil's Advocate
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Beware the Bell Curve! Of course, not all evidence will support what you expect. It may contradict the argument that you are trying to make -- it may not fit the usual pattern. This can be both natural and, yet, surprising. It is your job to be the devil's advocate. Be critical. Like any other data, you must analyze and interpret this "unfriendly" data along with the data that does tend to support your argument. Above all, don't pretend that this data does not exist. Recognize that some data lies at the extremes of the infamous bell curve. It is widely scattered from the correlation that you've apparently discovered. In any study, data covers a broad spectrum. In many cases, your answer to this minor predicament may simply go something like this, as vague as it sounds... "This bit of data suggests that society was certainly fluid. There were no pigeon holes into which everything perfectly fit. There were variations regionally across space and through time." But then again, there is actually an opportunity here -- an alternate view that you could champion as a critical and creative thinker. Maybe you have come across a set of data that rather contradicts an accepted position. For example, it is widely believed that the wealthy Scottish landlord class and their professional agents were the ones who conceived and started the agricultural revolution... For instance...
The Scarboro Heights Record V12 #1
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