making sense of science and evidence 2010 annual meeting
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TRANSCRIPT
Making sense of science and evidence
Tracey Brown
Sense About Science
16th November 2010
New fears over additives
in children's food
The Guardian, 8th May 2007
GM vandals force
science firms to
reduce research
The Times, 16th Oct 2005
Fears over gender bender
Chemical in our food packaging
The Daily Express, 30th Jan 2007
Wi-Fi: Children at risk from 'electronic smog' The Independent 22nd April 2007
Public debate
on hybrid
embryos
BBC Online, 11th January 2007
Chlorine in tap
water
‘nearly doubles
the risk of birth
defects’
Daily Mail 31st May 2008
Mouthwash ‘can raise cancer risk’Metro 13th January 2009
Bowel cancer doubles among the under-30sDaily Mail 31st March 2009
Cosmetics ‘expose women to 175 chemicals in a day’Daily Mail 4th September 2006
ORBIT CLOSE Woman ‘given bovine TB by garden badger’
Scientists create pigs with
cystic fibrosis in search
for life-saving new treatments
Fish Oil enhances children’s
speech
How a ‘cocktail’ of food additives could harm
young brains
News Media
Press Officers
Conference Organisers
Higher Education
Teachers
Parliamentarians
Governments
NGOs
Medical Charities
Health Service
Companies
Policy Groups
Community Organisations
TV programming
Discussion Forums
Museums
Libraries
Celebrities
Publishers
Lifestyle Sector
Websites
People interested in peer review
What people ask about…
Help me get to grips with it• Should we worry?• Can I get something from
scientists?• Is it a scare story? • Is it science?• Who says it’s safe?
How much do we know?• What do scientists actually
know?• What tests have been done?• How sure are they?
Balance of scientific opinion
• Is it majority opinion?• How are scientists split?
Legitimacy• Is it a proper study?• How can I tell?• Have they talked to
scientists? • What kind of study is it?
Peer trouble
How fail safe is our current system at
ensuring the quality and integrity of
research? Not very, says John Crace
The Guardian, February 11 2003
Lies, all lies. But who do you tell?
The Times, May 14 2007
Can peer review police fraud?Nature Neuroscience, February 1 2006
A question of ethicsMedical journals are an immoral
marketing tool for drug companies,
according to a former editor of the BMJ. The Guardian, June 30 2005
UK autism fracas fuels calls for peer review reformNature Medicine, 1 April 2004
Peer Review Under StressScience, April 20 2007
Casualties of fraudDon't believe all you read in medical journals - their methods of assuring quality are often
less than reliable.The Guardian, October 30 2006
Reasons for Reviewing
n=3597
16%
33%
34%
30%
46%
85%
69%
72%
90%
% agree
Overall satisfaction with peer review
(n=4037)
8%
61%
22%
8% 1%
Very Satisfied
Satisfied
Neither satisfied nordissatisfiedDissatisfied
Very Dissatisfied
Purpose of peer review
33
37
62
57
82
71
64
33
38
58
54
77
64
61
79
81
84
81
93
92
86
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Detects fraud
Detects plagiarism
Determines the importance of findings
Ensures previous work is acknowledged
Improves the quality of the published paper
Determines the originality of the manuscript
That it selects the best manuscripts for the journal
Should be able
Is able
Currentlyfulfils
n = 4037% agree
Making sense of science and evidence
Tracey Brown
Sense About Science
16th November 2010