Why Should I Care?

Again and again I have reiterated the importance of taking some self responsibility in making sure you are getting to a base truth about stories you are exposed to via your favorite media outlets.  At the same time I know following that advice is not always simple as it sounds given that quite often the sourced research is published in journals that you just don’t happen upon in your local bookstore or newsstand.  However, there are a variety of routes you can take in getting access to these publications and the process may not be as hard as you think.  But before we walk down the path of how, let’s stop for a moment and consider the why.  Isn’t the why always more interesting anyway?

Recently I was reading the following PhD Comic and was reminded yet again as to how the work of a well meaning scientist can be turned into a story that is so far removed from the original research.

Now while the comic makes light of the situation through a bit of exaggeration, it does highlight a real problem.  How often when you read, hear, or see a story related to scientific research are enough details related to the source of the story provided such that you could actually try to find it even if you wanted to?  So your first assignment, is to never accept a story as truth that does not give you that level of information.  Next remember that any so called ‘news’ outlet usually still needs to make a profit.  This means they will look for the ‘wow’ angle in any story and that is not how published research is written.  I would say trust me on that, but read a research article from end to end and you will be convinced.  The ‘wow’ perspective can easily lead to bold statements without the appropriate asterisks being supplied.  But those little details supplied in the fine print, might indeed lead you to a very different interpretation of the research or at least ground you in the real state of things from which the ‘wow’ story unfolded.

So how can you get access to this research (assuming the story was properly sourced)?  There are a variety of routes to take and the information age has certainly expanded and made more accessible the possibilities.  

• Contact the author – Quite often the author’s of research are readily available via email or websites.  They are also very eager to share their research and often provide link’s on a web page to electronic version’s of their articles.  They are not always able to provide copies depending on the restrictions of journal publishers, but it is likely that if they can they will.  The author’s want their research to be properly understood, so if there is a way to get you a copy of the research publication they will do their best to help.
• Access the journal’s website – Most journals will make older articles available free of charge and even abstracts of more recent articles available without cost.  Almost all will sell you individual articles, and they generally will allow you to subscribe to a journal (however if you are not a member of the associated society for which the journal publishes, this can be a costly route).  If there is a particular topic that is of interest to you, consider joining the association in an associate or non-scientific designation.  This may give you access to journals or greatly reduce subscription rates, and may cost less than you think.
• Utilize all the libraries resources – It was not that many years ago we thought of libraries as only books, magazines and newspapers on shelves and racks.  You may find that a local library does indeed have a hard copy of the journal you seek.  However, most libraries (library systems) also have access to online journals either through the local branch or system, or through a larger state or regional cooperative organization.  These online systems provide access to electronic versions of many journals, but you may find that your local library only has access to the more mainstream journals.  For more topic specific journals, consider contacting your closest collegiate library and determine their policies for guests, many allow guests significant access to printed and electronic journals.

Now, it is certainly not realistic to do this level of investigation for every story and or even every topic, but it is a good exercise at least from time to time or for topics that are of importance to you.  It is also reasonable to lean upon sources that you come to grade as trustworthy.  This can include:

• Blogs written by scientist who clearly source the content of their posts
• Science reporters who clearly source the content of their articles or reports
• Trained media representatives who clearly source the content of their reports

See a trend here?  Get to the source or at least make sure the reporting outlet does a credible job in performing that critical step. 

Next time we will delve back into the topic of uncertainty and how effectively it is portrayed by those who communicate weather and climate information.