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Damn statistics, damn lies & damn headlines': research, the media, policy, and practice
Jim McVeigh, Head of Substance Misuse, Lloyd Baron, IAD Researcher and Martin Chandler, IAD Database Manager, Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University
Abstract
This interactive workshop will pose the question "should we believe what we read?". The simplistic answer would be" we should believe whatever we want to believe". What we choose to believe is in many ways unimportant, it is the ability to discriminate between a fact and a hunch, evidence and conjecture, probability and proof.
The need to discern between robust scientific data and badly represented "science" stories in the media is something we encounter each day: organic products, reflexology, "Bigfoot", global warming and homeopathy. Drug related issues, in particular issues related to injecting are a fertile ground for the popular media. For the general population, including many working in the drugs field, the media are a key source of information.
The process of appraising evidence and assessing the veracity of conclusions is the same whether assessing the information in a tabloid newspaper, television documentary, government report or peer reviewed academic paper. Specific examples will be used to discuss the key elements of this process. Whilst we may all believe what we like, we should be aware that our beliefs may be based on incontrovertible proof, the balance of evidence or blind faith.
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Biography
Jim McVeigh is currently Head of Substance Use and Deputy Director of the Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University. In 2005 he was awarded the title of Reader in Substance Use Epidemiology. He has experience as a harm reduction nurse and since the mid 1990s he has worked at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University in public health research. He has a wide range of substance use related research interests including treatment, prevention and the criminal justice system, however, injecting drug use, in particular, the use anabolic steroids and associated drugs and emerging issues remain his key areas of academic interest.
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