ABSTRACT
When deciding what to cook, there are certain questions to be borne in mind including: who the meal is for; what food is available; and what cooking utensils and equipment one has. Other, more individual factors, include personal tastes, diet and philosophies. As a vegetarian, for example, Justin is not going to be cooking meat; Arjen who does occasionally eat meat, might. One of us likes spicy food, the other does not. Likewise, as people over the age of 40 ‘watching our weight’, we both try to avoid consuming too many ‘calories’. So, our end product, the meal, depends on a range of factors over which we have no control (what’s available); a range of factors over which we have some control (depending on our personal choice); and a range of beliefs and preferences that reduce our choices. Usually research is more complicated but, in essence, this analogy serves to remind us that the final product-the substance of our conclusions-also depends on factors over which we have no control, factors over which we have some control, and a range of beliefs and preferences that reduce our choices in designing, conducting and reporting research. What people think of our meal/research conclusions depends largely on them and their preferences and persuasions: there’s nothing intrinsic to either the cooking/research process that guarantees what someone will think about its end product in terms of quality, suitability, choices or compromises.
