Abstract
Health education specialists often communicate health information to consumers, making the ability to decipher valid information from that which is unreliable an important skill. To address this issue, public health degree programs can incorporate activities focused on the accuracy of health information into relevant courses and curricula. One way to address this is through a web-based activity described in this article. This learning activity allows students to become familiar with the problem of misinformation in popular press and to practice the skills associated with identifying accurate health-related content on the Internet. The goal of this learning activity is three-fold: students will be able to (a) critically evaluate a news article concerning a health-related topic and, (b) identify reports of research in the popular press that may be misleading and inaccurate, and (c) identify reports of research in the popular press that are not well-written according to journalistic standards (i.e., writers should be objective purveyors of the news and cover all perspectives). Incorporating such learning activities into relevant courses and curricula may help students become familiar with the challenge of misinformation in the popular press. Furthermore, these activities allow them to practice the skills associated with identifying accurate health-related content on the Internet.
A fundamental use of the Internet is the extent to which it facilitates communication and collaboration among individuals interested in a common question or problem (Davis, 2010). As such, the Internet can be a meaningful educational resource that provides a large body of information to be searched, read, and conveyed. A common problem with this approach, however, is the sheer volume of information on a given topic that can make it difficult to identify the most credible or useful sites (Viswanath, 2005). In contrast to content in a peer-reviewed journal, there may be limited oversight of information published in venues that are not peer-reviewed, resulting in greater potential for misinformation or incomplete information (Driscoll & Brizee, 2013). Moreover, Internet search engines do not return results in the order of trustworthiness of news sources, nor do they provide sufficient information for a consumer to make a well-informed assessment of the accuracy of the information presented in news (Slater & Zimmerman, 2003). For instance, recent research on newspapers’ reporting of selected aspects of neuroscience found accuracy of the content to be low, particularly in free and popular news sources (Van Atteveldt, Van Aalderen-Smeets, Jacobi, & Ruigrok, 2014). A 2014 study analyzed the accuracy of news reporting on a landmark cardiovascular prevention trial that assessed the Mediterranean diet’s efficacy on cardiovascular outcomes (Rangarajan et al., 2014). Key positive findings from the trial were highlighted, but major limitations were not adequately addressed. The study’s authors suggest that news outlets may skew the presentation of research to highlight positive health outcomes, thereby providing incomplete information to those who rely on news sources for their health information (Rangarajan et al., 2014). In order for learners to distinguish accurate from inaccurate news, they are instructed to use a checklist to evaluate information in news (i.e., author, whether the author is an authority on the topic, does the author cite reputable public health sources, whether the website is current, whether there is advertising related to the story, etc.; Fallis & Fricke, 2002). It is important to note that students will learn to distinguish between the artifacts, so to speak, on the website and the website, which is simply the channel in many cases. The news report or news story gets posted to the website and the credibility of each can be different. This will be an added component of the activity.
Having the skills to decipher high-quality information that is reliable and accurate is essential for effective learning and informed decision making (Driscoll & Brizee, 2013). Health education specialists often communicate health information to consumers, making the ability to decipher valid information from that which is unsound an important skill. To address this issue, public health degree programs can incorporate activities focused on identifying accurate and inaccurate health information into relevant courses and curricula. Information literacy is an important set of skills that students will use throughout their lives. The frequently cited American Library Association’s (1989) final report from the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy states, “To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” Thus, information literacy can be defined as “being able to recognize when information is needed, and to have the ability to locate, evaluate and use the information needed” (Eisenberg, Lowe, & Spitzer, 2004, p. 40).
Web-Based Learning Activity
Below is a description of a web-based activity that allows students to become familiar with the problem of misinformation and to practice the skills associated with identifying accurate health-related content on the Internet. The goal of this learning activity is three-fold: Students will be able to (a) critically evaluate a news article concerning a health-related topic, (b) identify reports of research in the popular press that may be misleading and inaccurate, and (c) identify reports of research in the popular press that are not well-written according to journalistic standards (i.e., writers should be objective purveyors of the news and cover all perspectives). The learners for this lesson plan are undergraduate students in an undergraduate public health research course. The level of technological competence among students can be varied.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to do the following:
Identify both a news article and the peer-reviewed scientific literature on which it is based
Develop criteria for assessing the quality of a news article in terms of accuracy, authority, objectivity, comprehensiveness, and timeliness
Analyze the assumptions made in the news article and compare them to the evidence in the peer-reviewed literature
Compare and contrast the presentation of information in selected news article as compared to its peer-reviewed source
Write a news article that accurately characterizes a research report
Lesson Activities
Identify Both a News Article and the Peer-Reviewed Article on Which It Is Based
For this activity, students complete an Internet search to identify a news article on a given health issue (e.g., antibiotics and childhood obesity). Using a popular search engine such as Google or Yahoo, students are asked to type in key words related to this topic and review the search results. Selecting the “News” option within each search engine narrows the search findings for the purpose of this activity. When entering such keywords as “antibiotics and child obesity,” the results direct the user to varied news-based web links such as USA Today, National Public Radio (NPR), and British Broadcasting Corporation (Doucleff, 2012; Mundasad, 2014; Park, 2015; Szabo, 2014). The search may also identify news articles produced by major news information services such as the Associated Press or Reuter’s Health. Students can be informed that these are the sources from which many news outlets get their stories.
Students should document the search engines used and where they searched, what problems they encountered in their search, and how they solved the problem. For instance, students may have difficulty distinguishing between news articles based on articles presented at professional meetings versus those already published in peer-reviewed periodicals, or difficulty navigating the medical literature on the Internet. Articles from professional meetings should not be considered an appropriate source of information for this learning activity. Another inappropriate source is press conferences that are frequently covered by reporters and result in publication of news articles. Verbal presentations such as press conferences do not produce a written record in a publicly available archive and may not be based on a particular research report. Such presentations may be deemed as commentaries, advocacy, reviews, or other categories that would not be appropriate for this assignment.
Reading the news article carefully, students will search for an indication of the original source on which the news article is based. For example, if we follow the example given above, a CNN news article makes mention of an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) as well as the name of the researcher.
The problem-solving task in this activity entails finding the primary source material on which the news article is based. This may be challenging as the news article may contain incomplete information about the original source. This may or may not include the journal where the article was published or the name(s) of the author(s). In some cases, an article presented at a symposium or professional meeting may be cited, making it more challenging to locate since such sources may not be publicly available and may necessitate contacting the author or the author’s organizational affiliation. Some of the problems that may be encountered when attempting to identify the source on which the news article is based on are that some sources may not be available online or may require that the user pay a fee to access the information. In addition, the author(s) may have multiple publications resulting in confusion over which one was the basis for the news article under study. Perhaps the most troubling problem that may be encountered occurs when the source information in the news article is incorrect in terms of author, place of publication, year, volume, page numbers, title, or a combination of these factors.
To identify the scientific source used in the news article, students will search PubMed or other databases (ERIC, PsychLit, etc.). They may also search the journal’s website if mention is made of a place of publication. Using the given example, students would search the JAMA website or the PubMed database and find citations that may reflect what is cited in the news article. Students would then read abstracts to delineate which of the articles is the exact match. At this point, students would search their respective library’s website to determine if the journal where the article is printed is subscribed to by the library. If not, students will request a copy on interlibrary loan. Students can also see if the journal is based online and is available via Open Access.
The overarching problem-solving aspect of this activity would be determining how to locate a complete copy of a specific article. Learning to use valuable search engines to locate an article is a skill that all future health educators should possess. It would also be helpful for the students to use their library’s website to determine what journal listings are available through their university. Two problems that are likely to be encountered in this activity are that each of the various search engines (e.g., PubMed, ERIC, PsychLit, etc.) has different structures and processes for searching. This activity will require that students familiarize themselves with each site’s particular interface. Second, some of the original articles may not be accessible online, or may require that a fee be paid to access the full text. For those articles that are available in print only, students can access interlibrary loan, if necessary. For fee-only journal articles, students may need to be redirected to a different news article if payment is not feasible.
Develop Criteria for Assessing the Quality of a News Article, Analyze the Assumptions Made in the News Article, and Evaluate the Evidence in the Peer-Reviewed Literature
For this activity, students generate a list of criteria they believe are indicative of the accuracy of a news article that reports on a health-related study. The list may include criteria such as financial disclosure, sources used to inform the article, and the article’s relevance/utility, and to determine if the source is a primary or a secondary source. For each criterion identified, students should include an explanation of how it influences the article’s accuracy. In addition, they might assign weights of importance to their criteria to indicate which are more or less important and why. Students can work in groups and present their ideas as part of a PowerPoint presentation.
One problem-solving activity would be to apply the criteria generated to evaluate selected news articles and determine their practicality and applicability. A second problem-solving activity might be to describe the limitations of the various criteria. For example, some might only apply to certain kinds of studies. Others, while relevant, might be difficult to determine because the necessary information is not routinely reported.
The assessment for this activity would involve comparing the students’ identification and definition of evaluative criteria against those generated by the professor and representing a consensus among the professional fields. These include the following:
Is the sample size reported in the news article?
Is the study population described accurately?
Is there a description of variables in the study?
Are the major results reported accurately in the article?
Is the author of the study mentioned in the article?
Are there any threats to internal validity discussed in the actual study?
Are there any threats to internal validity discussed in the article?
Is the journal where the study was published cited in the article?
Is an interview with the authors cited in the article?
Would you change the way this news article is presented? Why or why not?
Compare and Contrast the Presentation of Information in Selected News Article as Compared to Its Peer-Reviewed Source and Write a News Article That Accurately Characterizes a Research Report
Students will identify a research report that interests them using the PubMed search engine. After reading the article, they will write a news article with the evaluative criteria in mind. When interpreting the validity of the study, students should consider different kinds of design validity in a sequential manner. First, statistical conclusion validity should be assessed to determine the likelihood of Type I or Type II errors in hypothesis testing (Cook & Campbell, 1979). For example, problems such as low statistical power, “fishing,” the error rate problem (conducting many bivariate statistical tests without correcting the alpha level), and violated assumptions of statistical test might be assessed. If the study is deemed to have acceptable statistical conclusion validity, assessment of internal validity would include assessment of the extent to which various threats to internal validity (Campbell & Stanley, 1963) are controlled. If so, consideration can be directed to the generalizability of the findings and conclusions, namely, assessment of external validity—the extent to which the findings and conclusions can be generalized to other people, places, and times. In general, there will be trade-offs between internal and external validity—the greater level of control exerted over the experimental context, the less ability there is to generalize the findings and conclusions to other “real-world” contexts. The greatest challenge often lies is establishing the construct validity of putative causes and effects, which may be accomplished in several ways, including empirically demonstrating convergent and/or discriminant validation.
Students should also consider whether the research presents novel findings or whether these findings are consistent with existing research. Students will be prompted to recognize if the findings of the particular study are novel if the findings could be flawed in any way, and if further research is warranted. Utilizing the method of peer feedback, students can exchange news articles and corresponding articles and apply their evaluative criteria to assess the extent to which their fellow students did an acceptable job of reporting. Students’ assessments can be presented as a written critique to help the respective authors improve their reporting. To ensure fair critiques, more than one student can provide an assessment on a peer’s news article.
Conclusion
The Internet’s capability to empower students and support dynamic information exchanges are far-reaching. While college students have access to a variety of health information, access alone does not ensure that students are skilled at conducting searches for health information (Stellefson et al., 2011). As previously mentioned, this assignment can increase their skills related to information literacy. Understanding scientific literature and news health information may present a formidable challenge for many public health students. However, this represents an opportunity for research and practice to foster students’ ability to seek, understand, and evaluate correctness of health information. Public health degree programs are uniquely positioned to provide students with skills to assess the accuracy of health information. Providing customized training to conduct health information searches can ensure important proficiency skills among public health students.
The newspaper coverage of health issues offers minimal explicit commentary on their quality or credibility (Turow et al., 2003). Therefore, students need to rely more on scientific evidence from peer-reviewed articles. This article sheds the light on appropriate use of news sources and comparing them with scientific research evidence in the public health classroom. While the gap between what the media report and research evidence is still wide, specific strategies suggested in this article may improve the use of evidence health reporting and scientific literature by public health students.
Incorporating described learning activities into relevant courses and curricula may help familiarize students with the challenge of misinformation. Furthermore, these activities allow them to practice the skills associated with identifying accurate, health-related content on the Internet. Finally, additional research is needed to develop the training programs that can increase access to appropriate health-related resources by teaching students to make use of new technological resources (i.e., RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.