Category Archives: Research methods

Research

By take21 | Published: March 21, 2010
Oxford Internet Institute: developing a methodology for costing the impact of digital exclusion. Recent work by OII has shown that technological forms of exclusion are a reality for significant segments of the population, that different groups experience different types of exclusion, and that for some people they reinforce and deepen existing disadvantages, such as social [...]
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Facebook, cancer, miracle cure

By take21 | Published: February 26, 2009
Update on the social-networking-causes-health-risks story. Previous post here Ben Goldacre and Dr Aric Sigman on BBC Newsnight discuss Sigman’s paper with Jeremy Paxman. Also featured, the views of Professor Susan Greenfield, source of The Daily Mail story: Social websites harm children’s brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist ‘Social networking websites are causing alarming [...]
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Facebook, cancer, Daily Mail

By take21 | Published: February 22, 2009
How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer The Daily Mail This is so bad I thought it was a parody, but I guess the Daily Mail’s science and medicine coverage is beyond parody. For example: “* Yes, loneliness is bad for your health – but only YOU can cure yourself * Drinking just [...]
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Dore on R4, transcripts available

By take21 | Published: August 22, 2008
Face the Facts: The Dore Programme: controversial treatment for dyslexia has gone bust.’ Broadcast on Friday 15th August. In which we learned that: Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology at Oxford University has a colleague who uses the Dore Balsall Common study as a training exercise for undergraduate students. This was also the primary purpose [...]
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Dore on R4

By take21 | Published: August 14, 2008
‘Fri 15th August You and Yours, 12.00-1.00pm 12.30: Face the Facts: The Dore Programme: controversial treatment for dyslexia has gone bust.’ On BBC Radio 4 and listen again for 7 days via Brainduck Given  their previous reporting on Dore, which was just embarrassing for an investigative consumer affairs programme, it’s to be hoped You and [...]
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Making sense of numbers

By take21 | Published: August 12, 2008
BBC News Magazine is running a series by Michael Blastland on making sense of numbers: interpreting data, research, media coverage. Surveys & media coverage Myth of counting: the economy, growth, recession Michael Blastland is the author, with Andrew Dilnot, of The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing Through a World of Numbers
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Mapping, GIS, disease

By take21 | Published: July 21, 2008
“A system of electronic mapping which allows many different types of data to be layered onto a single image is being used to improve healthcare across Rwanda. The digital maps, called Geographic Information Systems (GIS), are designed to compile information from numerous databases and use it to both track and predict outbreaks of disease. This [...]
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Motivation and reward in learning

By take21 | Published: July 6, 2008
Motivation and reward in learning: Yale 1948 Uses white rats to picture trial-and-error problem solving and to demonstrate the importance of motivation and reward in the learning process. http://www.archive.org/details/Motivati1948 Video, stream or download. Creative Commons licence. Runtime 13:39 Don’t tell me they were cruel to rats, ask why they carried out these experiments. What theory [...]
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Motivation and reward in learning

By take21 | Published: June 29, 2008
Motivation and reward in learning: Yale 1948 Uses white rats to picture trial-and-error problem solving and to demonstrate the importance of motivation and reward in the learning process. http://www.archive.org/details/Motivati1948 Video, stream or download. Creative Commons licence. Runtime 13:39 Don’t tell me they were cruel to rats, ask why they carried out these experiments. What theory [...]
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Meta science reporting

By take21 | Published: June 24, 2008
Ben Goldacre has a piece on media coverage of health and medical research. 1. Mostly, press coverage is pretty poor. He cites a US study “After almost two years and 500 stories, the project has found that journalists usually fail to discuss costs, the quality of the evidence, the existence of alternative options, and the [...]
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