Scientific studies can be difficult for a lay person to interpret, so it is not surprising that we rely on intermediaries - news outlets, social media, well meaning friends - to help us understand them. Every field has its own specialized technical jargon and the design and execution of the studies themselves can be complex. Unfortunately this leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation, both accidental and intentional. News media cherry pick studies and misrepresent their meaning, typically through ignorance. Organizations will search for studies and data that support their agenda and ignore any that don't. Critical context is often lost in the rush to post a great story. And the technicalities of statistical significance and study design are often just ignored.
Would you like to get better at interpreting the news of medical studies and new developments? Would you prefer to be a more critical and informed consumer of social media without having to get a medical degree?
Here is an option. A free course that explains how study design works and what questions to ask to intelligently interpret the results. "Understanding Medical Research: Your Facebook Friend is Wrong" will give you the basics you need to sort through all the noise and separate fact from wishful thinking, or worse. The instructor is from Yale University and knows his stuff.
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