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Science for journalists

Science for journalists

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Science for journalists. The MMR vaccine: a series of failures in science reporting. The MMR vaccine : the serious consequences of bad science reporting. Combined MMR vaccine introduced. Measles vaccine introduced. MMR-autism link suggested. BSE : The perils of communicating risk. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Science for journalists

Science for journalists

Page 2: Science for journalists
Page 3: Science for journalists

The MMR vaccine: a series of failures in science reporting

Page 4: Science for journalists

Combined MMR vaccine introduced

Measles vaccine introduced

MMR-autism link suggested

The MMR vaccine: the serious consequences of bad science reporting

Page 5: Science for journalists

BSE: The perils of communicating risk

Page 6: Science for journalists

Climate change: The perils of communicating uncertainty

Page 7: Science for journalists

Common misconceptions

Science advances by big breakthroughs

Progress is mostly slow and incremental

Science proves things Science gathers evidence

Scientists are neutral Scientists are human

“The Lone Genius” Science is carried out in collaboration

Scientists are always truthful “A scientist’s authority should command attention but, in the absence of evidence,

not belief”

Page 8: Science for journalists

famefundingprestige

timespace

interesteditorial

impact

scientist journalistpress officer

academic journal

From lab bench to front page

Page 9: Science for journalists

Observe

Hypothesise

Test

The Scientific Method

Page 10: Science for journalists

Observe

Hypothesise

Conclude

Common sense (or rationalism)

Page 11: Science for journalists

Designing a good experimental study: Does the MMR-vaccine cause autism?

• Experimental controls

• Size of study

• Statistical significance

• Random selection

• Measure other factors that might affect outcome

• Unbiased observations: double-blind

⇒Include subjects without vaccination

⇒The more, the better

⇒The likelihood that your results are luck

⇒To avoid confounding factors

⇒To detect possible confounding factors

⇒Neither the experimenter, nor the subject knows whether they are in the control group (placebo treatment)

Page 12: Science for journalists

How would we design an experiment to test whether MMR causes autism?

Wakefield et al. Uchiyama et al.

Experimental controls None +/- MMR jab+/- autism

Size of study 12 904

Statistical significance Not possible No significant correlation between vaccine and autism

Random selection No No

Measure other factors that might affect outcome

No Yes

Double blinded to remove bias

No Yes

Page 13: Science for journalists

Observe

Hypothesise

Scientific method

Wakefield et al. 1997

Test

Uchiyama et al. 2007

Page 14: Science for journalists

TitleA precise description of paper

AbstractA summary of what they did and what they found

IntroductionThe motivation and context of the research

MethodsAre they appropriate for the claims made?

ResultsTables, charts and lots of data

Discussion

The author’s views of what the results mean (or don’t)

How to read a scientific paper (on a deadline)

Page 15: Science for journalists
Page 16: Science for journalists
Page 17: Science for journalists

“Scientists constantly tell us contradictory stories”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/index.html

Page 18: Science for journalists

How excited should I be?

Holy crap!

Yawn

Phase III (marketability)

Phase II (efficacy)

Phase I human trials (safety)

Animal tests

In vitro tests

Research announcement

Hypothesis

Page 19: Science for journalists

6/9/2010

Review articles: summarising the findings from literature

Page 20: Science for journalists

http://www.cochrane.org/

Systematic reviews: the gold standard

Page 21: Science for journalists

Dissecting a press release

Page 22: Science for journalists

Dissecting a press release

Source?•Preliminary study from conference, not peer-reviewedIs it a controlled experiment?•No comparison to non-diet drinksWhat do we know about type of drink?•Very few details on drinksWhat can you tell me about the subgroups?•Don’t know size of subgroups that drink a lot of diet drinksDoes the research prove diet drinks cause heart attacks? Can it?•Observational so can only show a link, not cause and effectHow do they know how much people drank?•Relies on self-reporting of diet, and only at start of study not as it goes alongWhat other risk factors were taken into account? •Controls for some factors but not all (family history of strokes? Other dietary habits? Weight gain?)What was the increase in heart attack risk?•Is it 61% or 48%?What is the baseline risk of heart attack? •Only relative risk given not absolute

Page 23: Science for journalists

Uncertainty in Science: Why won’t scientist give you a straight answer?

Statistical analysis

Observe

HypothesiseTest

“There’s a high probability that your

hypothesis is correct”

1. STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Page 24: Science for journalists

The scientists say: “The balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate"

Uncertainty in Science: Why won’t scientist give you a straight answer?

2. THE DEFINITIVE EXPERIMENTS ARE IMPOSSIBLE

CO2Do

manmade

emissionscause

global warming?

Page 25: Science for journalists

Uncertainty in Science: Why won’t scientist give you a straight answer?

3. IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE THAT SOMETHING IS SAFE (BUT EASY TO SHOW THAT IT’S DANGEROUS)

Page 26: Science for journalists

What is the biological basis of consciousness?

Why is there more matter than antimatter?

Are there smaller building blocks than quarks?

Is ours the only universe?

Do mathematically interesting zero-value solutions of the Riemann zeta function all have the form a+bi?

Uncertainty in Science: Why won’t scientist give you a straight answer?

4. WE GENUINELY DON’T KNOW… YET

Page 27: Science for journalists

Balance in science reporting

Page 28: Science for journalists

Science Media CentreThere to help journalists who:

•Need a news interview with a scientist

•Have a question about a major science story

•Need a background briefing on a scientific topic

Sense About ScienceThere to:

•Respond to inaccuracies in claims about science

•Help those who need expert help contact scientists about issues of importance

•Brief non-specialists on scientific developments and practices

Useful organisations and further info

Page 29: Science for journalists

PubMedUS National Library of Medicine

Free search tool for finding PEER-REVIEWED scientific studies

The Cochrane CollaborationLibrary of systematic reviews in healthcare

European Food Safety AuthorityLibrary of systematic reviews of nutrition and health claims for foods

Useful resources: science publication databases