PSYC02H3 Lecture 8: C02 Lecture 8 (1)
Document Summary
Flaws of science journalism are a part of mainstream discussion: greater access to science-oriented media and direct opinions from scientists, science twitter. Motivating factors: entertain, approach, catch attention, authors vary in scientific writing, problem of compression: squeeze lots of material into 10 pages. Psychology is an easy target: easy to describe research, easy to understand concepts. Objective accuracy: errors or omissions, in background info (e. g. , author name) or substantive info (e. g. , research targets) Subjective accuracy: problems with inferences, implications or emphasis. Taxonomy of subjective inaccuracy: misstated facts, errors of inference, speculation as facts, overemphasis on the unique, Results: estimates of inaccuracy: objective omissions are more common that errors, subjective errors in around 33% of all news articles. Structure of scientific argument: prior knowledge, hypothesis, results, what can we say about the hypothesis with regards to the result, criticism of findings, future direction. Site wants clicks, researchers want awareness, university wants good press: ask a scientist.
