Monday, October 16, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
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Beware of bias, scientists say
By Travis Butler Kansan staff writer
Many policy decisions and newspaper stories are based on scientific studies. But readers need to be careful in judging these studies at face value, said Edward Zeller, professor of physics and astronomy.
"The problem that the public has is that they don't have the background to look at both sides," he said. "The public has to be careful when they get it wrong." Frequently, these stories are written by someone with an ax to grind.
Raymond Ammar, professor of physics and astronomy, said, "If you're not an expert in the field, you aren't on the veracity of the investigator."
He said that a reader should make sure that reasearchers had not started the study with preconceived ideas.
John Landgrebe, professor of chemistry, said that readers needed to look at the statistics involved in a study. Any science need interpretation to be meaningful, and interpretations can differ on the same set of
"Sometimes people design their study or experiment with a bias," he said. "If you pick your survey sample in just the right or wrong way, depending on your point of view, it could bias the results."
statistics.
Albert W. Burgstahler, professor of chemistry, used fluoridation studies as an example. Fluoridation is the treatment of a city's water supply that is supposed to help prevent tooth decay. Studies have compared the tooth decay rates in cities without fluoridated water — the control group, in scientific terms — with cities that have fluoridated water — the experimental group — to determine whether the procedure works.
"How you choose your controls is important," he said. "You can select a city that makes fluoridation look good."
For example, Burgstahler said, a researcher could pick a city that normally had a problem with tooth decay as a control, thus making the fluoridated city look better in comparison.
But even with these problems, there are some things that a reader can do
Ammar said, "When somebody makes a claim, it should be something that is reproducible. When many people try to reproduce a claim and can't, that's suggestive. A reader should ask the author whether he reproducible and confirmed by others. He should look for a consensus among people studying the issue."
to judge the reliability of stories based on scientific studies.
Burgstahler said that a reporter writing a story should try to get information from all sides and check out the original data as well. The reporter also should give information on the original sources — an article in a medical journal, for example — so the reader can check the source himself.
Zeller said that because many of the first warning stories on a subject were written by somebody trying to warn others, it was wait to parr the other side of the story.
"As a scientist, when I read something, I tend not to believe anything the first time that I read it," he said. "The best advice I can give a reader is to maintain an open mind and view all of the data with a jaunted eye."
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