Misrepresentation and exaggeration of findings from health-related research in press releases and news coverage. Not Applicable
Conditions
Interventions
Press officers will send draft copies of press releases to the InSciOut team prior to their release. The InSciOut team will code the press releases and randomly assign them to either an intervention c
Sponsors
Cardiff University
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Inclusion criteria for press releases: 1. Involves empirical, peer-reviewed research that is directly relevant to human health. Empirical evidence to include surveys, meta-analyses, systematic reviews and case studies. Inclusion criteria for press officers (from any of the following): 1. British university for topics related to human health e.g. clinical medicine, psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience, public health, health services and primary care 2. British research councils 3. British-based academic journals 4. British charities
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Exclusion criteria for press releases: 1. Involves empirical, peer-reviewed research that is not directly relevant to human health (e.g. climate change research, astronomy, palaeontology). 2. Do not involve empirical, peer-reviewed research 3. Related to future research 4. Related to grant funding 5. Related to literature reviews, opinion pieces, editorials or commentary Exclusion criteria for Press Officers: 1. Those from non-UK press offices 2. Those from private/corporate press offices
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| News coverage will be monitored for the week prior to the press release date and for one month following release. News coverage will be coded using a standardised protocol adapted from Sumner et al. (2014). A researcher blind to the intervention condition and published content of the press release will code the news stories. 1. The number of news stories that contain accurate causal claims, relative to the corresponding journal article, and the number of news stories that contain study design information. 2.The second primary outcome measure is news uptake, defined as the number and length of news articles generated by the press release (print, online and broadcast news). | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Secondary outcome measures include two other forms of exaggeration previously found in news articles (Sumner et al., 2014): 1.1. Advice – measured by the number of news stories that contain an in/appropriate level of advice (i.e. no advice, explicit advice not to the reader or general public or explicit advice to the reader or general public 1.2. Human inference – measured by the number of news stories that contain in/accurate information regarding the study sample (i.e. human or non-human participants) 2. The feasibility and acceptability of the trial. These outcomes will be determined by challenges to implementation of the wording intervention and participation in the trial. | — |
Countries
United Kingdom, Wales
Outcome results
None listed