In previous blogs I have mentioned that some researchers may show bias in their results, or may just twist what they found in their results to make it appear that it matches their hypothesis. But what about when researchers go to all that trouble of collecting data, and then explaining why they have a significant result, then a lovely newspaper journalist catches on to their report and BOOM it’s misinterpreted. So in a hypothetical situation say a researcher has done this, and made no biases in their research, and what they have found is pretty ground breaking stuff, but when this wonderful reporter comes along and doesn’t like what they have read, they turn THEIR opinion to appear like facts. The cheek!
It could be that journalists are just trying to draw attention to the general public about the importance of research. So for example although it may not seem like breakthrough science, it was reported back in 2003 how to make a perfect cup of tea. So although it may seem a bit pointless, I can imagine that a lot of people (including myself) may appreciate knowing this, as some of us do love a good cuppa, so it’s something that we can relate to. Another area of research that hit the news a good few years back, was that taking cod liver oil supplements helps the brain, needless to say that it was forced down my neck (can’t say that it helped much though). It is things like this though that helps bring research to the attention to the general public, so in terms of this it’s not too bad, although they may stretch the truth. I think that it is important that scientific research is made available to everyone, because after all it is meant to benefit EVERYONE.
But what about when a journalist takes the whole research out of context? Then this can be damaging for the researcher, as it presents research in a different light to what was intended. In 2010 The Sunday Times claimed that research had found that Blonde women born to be warrior princesses; it said that women with blonde hair were more likely to show a warlike streak, they attract attention and are more likely to get their own way. It all seems a bit bizarre; this is because it’s NOT TRUE. The research was actually looking at whether it was possible to tell the strength of a person by their voice when assessing fighting ability. Sell (2010), who was the main researcher, was angered by how the newspaper had taken his research out of context, especially as it didn’t even mention hair colour. Apparently the journalist admitted to Sell on the phone that he did make everything up, which I can imagine would anger many researchers, as they are doing this work to learn more and benefit people. If their work is shown in a false light it will lead the general public to believe that research of any kind is useless.
Useless research was highlighted by The Telegraph recently, and one research article that they rated as one of their top ten useless research studies, was suicide rates can be linked to country music. So, although it may seem like a pointless thing to study to some, it could be quite interesting to others. The newspaper does actually make the reader believe that country music causes people to commit suicide, but what the researcher was actually looking at and found that people who were already feeling suicidal were more likely to attempt suicide, because of the themes that are portrayed in country music. Just a final point on this; I’m not sure who decided they were useless bits of research, but the ones that they featured in their top ten were all winners of the Nobel awards. So were they really useless if they won an award?
So it is clear to see that newspapers can belittle the important research that is carried out, it also takes it out of context and can lead people to believe things that are not true.
There are positive sides to research being in the news as it is meant to be beneficial to everyone, and by printing or broadcasting it, it allows everyone to be aware of important areas of research. I know the examples that I have used may not be deemed important, but I hope that it gets my point across about how research can be misinterpreted, but it is also important for everyone to be aware of it, and not just the people that are involved in sciences.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3016342.stm
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/06/14/rspb.2010.0769.full
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/01/27/s-times-article-on-blonde-warriors-was-fabricated/
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