I am working with some researchers to communicate a complicated health research study and I found myself re-reading a brilliant Nature Comment piece about communicating evidence by David Speigelhalter, Theresa Marteau and others. I think the mantra of "inform not persuade" is as true for health comms people as for researchers. Where we add value is not in spinning findings, but in helping researchers to use language that is clear, to the point and accessible and also to give scientists and institutes the confidence to be open about any uncertainty and limitations of research. I wanted to share the Nature Comment here because it is worth reading for anyone working in health or science comms. Their Quick Tips for Communicating evidence include: • Address all the questions and concerns of the target audience. • Anticipate misunderstandings; pre-emptively debunk or explain them. • Don’t cherry-pick findings. • Present potential benefits and possible harms in the same way so that they can be compared fairly. • Avoid the biases inherent in any presentation format (for example, use both ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ framing together). • Use numbers alone, or both words and numbers. • Demonstrate ‘unapologetic uncertainty’: be open about a range of possible outcomes. • Highlight the quality and relevance of the underlying evidence (for example, describe the data set). • Use a carefully designed layout in a clear order, and include sources. The full article is available here: https://lnkd.in/e_z4GidK
Love this post, thanks for sharing! 🙌 I totally agree—communicating research in a clear, balanced way is so important, especially when it comes to health topics where there’s often a lot of confusion. Those quick tips are gold! I’m curious, though—have you found that certain approaches resonate better with different types of audiences? For example, when dealing with the general public vs. policymakers? Would love to hear your thoughts on navigating that!
Rach Colling
7mo
"Where we add value is not in spinning findings, but in helping researchers to use language that is clear, to the point and accessible" Yes to this!! Thanks for sharing, super useful.
Mikas Matsuzawa
7mo
“Inform not persuade” is so spot on. I wish I encountered this sooner but I’m so happy to stumble upon this now. Thanks for resurfacing this! I’m kind of excited to be unapologetic about uncertainty.
Barbara Cox
7mo
Interesting read, thanks for sharing. I’ve found the real challenge is when science communication bumps up against mainstream media requirements - their needs/goals don’t necessarily align with the “rules” for evidence communication!
Kate Kelland
7mo
Thanks for posting Claire Bithell. Very insightful.
Helena Cornu
7mo
This is super interesting, thanks for sharing!
Head of News and Research Communications at Lancaster University
7moI always look forward to hearing what you have to say on this subject and learn a lot from you. Thanks for sharing this. I initially misread ‘unapologetic uncertainty’ as ‘unapologetic certainty’ and felt unequal to the task.