Category Archives: Journalism

Who should be responsible for policy evaluation?

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Vicki Bolton

The Guardian has published a note by Nick Axford on when a charity might wish to carry out a randomised controlled trial. Axford works for a charity which promotes the use of evidence in designing services for children and families.  … Continue reading →

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AntiSocial Science: ‘research has revealed’ that we shouldn’t trust a press release

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Vicki Bolton

Research has also revealed some fairly predictable stuff about the best laid plans of mice and men.  There was briefly the promise that I might get paid to blog, but it evaporated, so my blog gets the benefit.  This was … Continue reading →

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Peer reviewed article ‘wrong’ shock

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Vicki Bolton

Dave Johns at Slate has written an interesting piece on self-publication and peer review, using a recent study about ‘social contagion’ as a peg.  I wrote a post back in March about some of the pitfalls of peer review.  In … Continue reading →

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I finally found a Census article that made me laugh

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Vicki Bolton

Lucy Mangan in the Guardian: The UK Census – it’s just a big box of tricks.  This is my favourite part: “How many of these rooms are bedrooms? Include all rooms built or converted for use as bedrooms even if they … Continue reading →

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More infant feeding research

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Vicki Bolton

The Telegraph and Observer have both published articles based on Maria Iacovou’s research (presumably this working paper) on the cognitive effects of breastfeeding.  It’s based on data from ALSPAC, a detailed and interesting (if slightly flawed) longitudinal dataset from Bristol.  Once … Continue reading →

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Guardian Datablog – data is nothing without analysis

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Vicki Bolton

David Brindle posted NCVO’s charity data to the Guardian’s Datablog on Valentine’s Day (gotta love a charity, right).  The data are available by local authority.  When the page loads correctly, you can click on the data table to sort the … Continue reading →

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Scaremongering journalist…? Not this time.

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Vicki Bolton

I’ve just been reading a Guardian article about a BMJ article about exclusive breastfeeding for six months.  As a member of a university, I’m privileged to have access to many journals online, including the BMJ.  I used that privilege to … Continue reading →

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Great post from the Harvard blog

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Vicki Bolton

Matt Blackwell at the Harvard Social Science Statistics Blog draws attention (in a most amusing way) to this interesting NY Times article.  Worth a read.  Basically, a professor with “a great sense of humour” (Daryl J. Bem) claims to have demonstrated … Continue reading →

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