On 12/19/06, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
All these things are sliding scales. It's easy to objectively say "all the victims were women". It's just *harder* to objectively say "all the papers supported notion X". Maybe it's ok. Maybe it isn't.
For one thing, if a source exhaustively lists all X, it's a definitive claim that can be sourced. Stating that all of them have something in common is simply a collation and editing function, IMO.
A database search like that described is different; it's not definitive and not a single source that can be cited. It's headed into original research to deem the results definitive and decisive; there is no guarantee whatsoever that the results have to be exhaustive and complete.
-Matt