I dont know what to believe

Recent

The impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing

Report of an independent assessment

The impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing

Two years ago, in the Children's Plan, the DCSF committed itself to commission an independent assessment of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. That assessment, led by Professor David Buckingham, is now complete. As part of the process SIRC was commissioned to undertake two major reviews: Children and Family Life: Socio-Demographic Changes and The Ecology of Family Life. more

Recession Generation

Psychological impact & the lessons of recession

Recession Generation

There can be very few people in Britain who are unaware that we have been living in times of recession…It is clear that people — even those unaffected directly — are worried, especially about their future financial security. But are there some positive lessons to be learnt? more

Life in the UK today

The role and citizen impact of Public Service Broadcasting

Public Service Broadcasting

As a complement to the extensive work contributed by other players on the rapid advances in technology and consumer behaviour, the work is designed to review and present the available data on broader social trends which may impact on PSB in the future…more

Football passions

Passion, emotion and the 'beautiful game'

Football passions

The Football Passions report summarises extensive sociological research across 18 countries in Europe. The objectives of the study were to capture the emotions of being a football fan and to compare the feelings, expressions and behaviour of fans associated with support of their football teams…more.

I don't know what to believe!

Regular browsers of the SIRC web site will be familiar with the MediaWatch page and our 'Scares and Miracles' section. Given the frequent disregard in many parts of the media for accurate and balanced science and health coverage, it is not surprising that many people find it difficult to know what is factually based and what is pure junk. The fault, however, does not lie entirely with the press. Quite often journalists receive material in the form of press releases or conference papers which have not been subject to any formal vetting procedures — the critical test being that of 'peer review'. This assesses the validity of the methods and results of research, the significance of the findings and whether the content should or should not be published.

Sense About Science — a charity devoted to the promotion of evidence-based approaches to scientific issues — has produced a timely guide to the peer review process. It explains with welcome clarity just what goes on behind the scenes before a research paper is published in a respectable journal and why the procedures are so important. For the reader of media science stories it is an invaluable tool for detecting the hallmarks of sound research and the warning signs that might make us wary of taking the report too seriously. Journalists would also do well to note the guide's content before trying to scare us to death on the basis of a piece of 'preliminary' research on some potential risk to our health and well-being that has not been subject to such scrutiny.

Copies of the guide in pdf format can be downloaded for free from the Sense About Science web site by clicking here or on the icon in the right-hand column.

28 November 2005