Errata: May Help
The idea: on its way from a study to a headline a claim grows; read the original study, see how big it was, and ask whether anyone has done it again.
Read it
Who is in this book
- Source Ask who would know this best, and whether they have a reason to say it from NewsForge
- Deed Go to the original document, not a summary of a summary from NewsForge
- Danya a child of the Green Asks "how do we know?"
- Tomas Ask how surprising a result would be, including how surprisingly neat from InferForge
- Ravi A result you can trust is one that still holds when you do it again from InquiryForge
- Attest Every claim names its source, and a correction names one too from NewsForge
- Tara a child of the Green Listens longest, speaks last
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?
True
- Many published scientific findings, including some well-known ones, have come out smaller or not at all when other scientists repeated the study. This is sometimes called the replication crisis. Source
- In 2015 a journalist ran a deliberately poor diet study, with a made-up institute and a press release, to see how easily the media would pick up a weak claim about chocolate. Source
- In the case, twenty people in each group make forty; one more word out of thirty is about three points in a hundred.
Stretched
- In the case, the study, the press release and the feature each use one clear word: may be associated with, may help, boosts. What we simplified: Real claims usually change more gradually, through headlines, social media posts and advice columns. The habit is the same: find the original study and read what it actually says, and how many people it was about.
Made up
- The blueberry study, its press release, the July feature, Femi, Mr Patel, Mrs Doyle and Dr Akhtar are made up. Blueberries are a healthy food; whether they help memory is not settled by one small study.
Tara’s sentence
The case stops where Tara speaks. Write the sentence you would have said. It stays on this device.
Kept.
Your sentence lives on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ring the hammer for someone
Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.