The only way to tell which side is right is through hindsight. Conflicting results simply mean that more information is needed before one hypothesis or the other (or neither) can be accepted as established fact. The progress of scientific discovery often resembles the story about the blind men and the elephant; discoveries are made a piece at a time, and the pieces may seem to contradict each other until all of the blank spaces are filled in. When I see conflicting results, I try to be impartial and trust that more data will resolve the question.

Some people find conflicting results upsetting, as if disagreements among scientists somehow undermine the validity of science in general. However, these disagreements serve as a powerful self-correcting force, encouraging new experiments and observations, since most scientists ultimately have the same goal: to describe the universe and explain how it works as accurately as possible.
Source(s):
no research on this one, just personal opinion based on a lifetime of fascination with science


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