News and media businesses have learned to sell research reports. Television, newspapers, magazines, radio and online businesses all use science, medical and social research reports to get attention and market their products.
The first lesson in reading research reports is to pay attention to the source of information.
If you are learning about research from a news source, you are getting the information second-hand, and possibly third- or fourth-hand.
Realize that the information ‘changes’ with each transfer between entities. Think of this process like the child’s game “Gossip”. In “Gossip”, one child whispers a sentence into the ear of another child who then passes, supposedly the same, message to a third child. After whispering the message child-to-child through several children, the beginning and ending message are revealed aloud. Most often, to the amazement of all participating, the beginning and ending messages are noticeably different.*
Most people do not read research reports directly from the journals where they are published, and reasonably, you should not have to in order to obtain reliable and useful new information. But you can look skeptically at the news sources you are using, and with discernment, decide who you will use to get credible information.
The first lesson in reading research reports is to pay attention to the source of information.
Each research report is like a grain of sand. ** When there are many studies that contribute to answering a research question, many studies create a ‘pile of sand’ that might answer one of the bigger questions in science, medicine or sociology. Each ‘grain’ by itself seldom resolves definitively a particular relationship between two factors.
Researchers all over the world work all the time to answer meaningful questions or tease-out relationships that contribute to our lives. At least many researchers have these high-minded goals for their research.
To definitely say that “this leads to that” – a causal relationship - through just one research study is exceedingly rare (not possible or impossible). The ‘grain of sand’ concept highlights the problems with reporting one study at a time in the news, as depicted above.
Research sometimes becomes part of social lore if the discovery leads to large-scale changes in society. An example of well-known research is the work of Jonas Salk, who developed a vaccine for poliomyelitis during the decade of the 1950’s. I remember eating a vaccine-laced sugar cube as a child and I believe Dr. Salk’s work had impact on my life by ensuring that I would not contract the disease.
Researchers all over the world work all the time to produce results that will make them the next Jonas Salk (famous researcher). The combined mixed-interests of the news business and researchers promote putting a slant or emphasis (subtly changing the message in the chain of transmission) on any single research report.
What you can do is think of each research report as a grain of sand. If the research report has some meaning in your life, you will likely remember it ~ especially if you later learn from the news that other research means the opposite! In your memory bank, you will likely form some ‘piles of sand’ for every topic of interest to yourself. From your combined memory of everything you have learned on a topic, your personal ‘pile of sand’ you will form a conclusive opinion on what the research means.
To benefit from all the differing and changing information from research reports in the news, think of each research report like a grain of sand.
The second lesson in reading research reports is to add each report to your personal ‘pile of sand’ on that topic. In this way, you will be measuring the impact of each study against a pile of other studies, helping yourself decide whether to believe or disregard the reported research. In a way, you are forming your own 'databank'.
*Gossip is a good interactive game that teaches a lesson in communication to children, says Dr. Boucher, the Child Development Specialist.
**Credit this concept to one of my professors in graduate school, who likely would not mind, but who I do not have permission to publish his name here. That is, I didn’t think of this one myself.
Thanks for this much-needed reminder of both the values and limitations of research! Love the grain of sand analogy.
Posted by: Polly | January 15, 2009 at 08:18 AM