If I am seeking answers about a topic, the knowledge of which I am not especially familiar, I research it from as many sources as I can to get a generalized understanding of the subject at hand.
Typically these sources are based on cumulative data from numerous studies by various researchers who may or may not be footnoted by the site. If different sites consistently give the same results, I have no reason to doubt their validity if no contrary information is presented to question what they have said. It is a trust, but verify scenario.
I must always be willing to reevaluate my conclusions in the light of new information from equally credible sources if honesty is to prevail; but it needs to be as credible as what I have previously seen.
Doug