The Scientific Evidence Indicator for Popular Science News

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Scientific Evidence Indicator (SEI), a tool designed to transparently communicate the credibility of health science news to high school students by assessing scientific sources behind news stories.

Contribution

The paper presents the development of SEI, a method to evaluate and explain the quality of scientific research in health news for non-expert audiences.

Findings

SEI effectively communicates research credibility to high school students

The tool enhances transparency of scientific sources in popular science news

Initial assessments show improved understanding among target audience

Abstract

To what extent can news media help in providing more credible information about science? This is the core challenge for the Science Evidence Indicator (SEI) project, a collaboration between the Danish popular news website videnskab.dk and the authors of this paper. Looking specifically at medical science news, we aim to provide a transparent assessment of the scientific sources behind a story. This entails identifying some of the criteria that scientists use to assess research, and making it accessible and understandable for readers. We address the following research question: How can we communicate the quality of scientific publications in health science to a non-expert audience? Our goal is to make the assessments understandable for the youngest part of the website's target audience: high school students from age 16 and upwards.