Communicating & Disseminating Research: Liaising with the Media MSc in Psychological Research Methods Kevin Paterson

Media comes in various forms Press Newspapers: tabloid and broadsheet Magazines, specialist or general TV News programmes, science programmes, magazine programmes, e.g., Richard & Judy Radio programmes, e.g., science progs, phone-ins The internet

Why bother? Publicise your work, can have spin-offs, e.g., profile might aid funding bids, e.g., Alastair Gale example. Public understanding of science Influencing decision-making Ego

Problems Journalists are not scientists They are looking for stories that are: New / original / is currently applicable Of general interest Is worrying Controversial Amusing Easy to understand (by themselves and their audience) Easy to sell to an Editor

Problems Also... Journalists are not scientists They will re-write stories to meet their requirements. Simplify findings Give findings implications that were not intended Give certainty to probabilistic claims Trivialise Example: “Mental representations minimally represent information” becomes “People are lazy at thinking”.

Problems What’s more...Journalists are not scientists They will give undue credence to unqualified sources (e.g., _________) They will give undue credence to qualified sources! They do not have the same standards regarding quality of a source, e.g., will report unpublished, unverified information.

How do they get stories? 70% of press stories are from press releases Press releases are sent out by all sorts of organisations, including universities, e.g., % of press releases are ignored. First 2 lines of a press release will sell it.

What does it say? Example, reporting on a conference presentation Headline – 3-5 words What – the news Who – who did it When – when it’s happening Where – where it’s happening Why – the explanation of the findings.

Writing style Active sentences Subject verb object constructions e.g., Dr. Paterson found that people read quickly when... Keep sentences short and simple in construction. Be concise Write for a general audience (e.g., your average 10 yr old).

Being interviewed Who the interviewer is and what angle they want Take care in case you are being set-up against someone else. Programme quality Is your work going to be trivialised, will you look a fool? Why is YOUR input wanted? Format (discussion, interview, phone-in, hands-on)?

Case study#1 Aimee Aubeeluck (U. Derby) Undergrad project had males and females complete a PMT questionnaire. No difference in responses Could conclude either that questionnaire is not selectively measuring PMT response, or that males show similar responses to females,e.g., PMT is no big deal.

Case study#1 Aimee Aubeeluck Undergrad project had males and females complete a PMT questionnaire. No difference in responses Could conclude either that questionnaire is not selectively measuring PMT response, or that males show similar responses to females,e.g., PMT is no big deal.

Case study#1 Press release from BPS NB errors, Aubeeluck is not yet a Dr., project had students working on it too. Resulted in hundreds of stories across world, most exaggerating implications, changing conclusions, making it interesting. Aimee declined invite on Richard & Judy

Case study#2 Miles Richardson (U. Derby) Miles’ PhD investigated ergonomic issues involved in instructional design. Used flat pack furniture as example. Again stories all over world concerning furniture construction, involving dozens of phone-calls. Article appeared in tabloids and broadsheets including 2 page spread in Guardian. Declined invite onto TV news to assess people’s performance at constructing furniture. Offered contract by IKEA!

Other topics Improving the public understanding of science, e.g., Ben Goldacre’s “bad science” column in Guardian. British Association: Café Scientifique: