Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2021Rational Policymaking during a Pandemic
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and …
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and its global impacts are unprecedented, decisions are taken in a highly uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing environment. In such a context, in which human lives and the economy are at stake, the authors argue that using ideas and constructs from modern decision theory, even informally, will make policymaking a more responsible and transparent process.
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Infectious Diseases | Decision Theory | Priority Setting/Ethics | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law -
OrganizationPublication 2024Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication
The Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication brings together the diverse disciplines of science communication …
The Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication brings together the diverse disciplines of science communication research and practice. Together, the committee works to more effectively engage all communities with science in ways that are equitable, evidence-based, and inclusive. This description was extracted from the organization website.
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Culture/Society | North America -
ArticlePublication 2021Narrative Truth About Scientific Misinformation
Science and storytelling mean different things when they speak of truth. This difference leads some …
Science and storytelling mean different things when they speak of truth. This difference leads some to blame storytelling for presenting a distorted view of science and contributing to misinformation. Yet others celebrate storytelling as a way to engage audiences and share accurate scientific information. This review disentangles the complexities of how storytelling intersects with scientific misinformation. Storytelling is the act of sharing a narrative, and science and narrative represent two distinct ways of constructing reality.…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Social Determinants | Decision Psychology | Preferences/Values | Culture/Society | North America -
ReportPublication 2021What It Means to Be a Science-Literate Citizen in a Digital World
Science literacy is often held up as crucial for avoiding science-related misinformation and enabling more …
Science literacy is often held up as crucial for avoiding science-related misinformation and enabling more informed individual and collective decision-making. But research has not yet examined whether science literacy actually enables this, nor what skills it would need to encompass to do so. This report addresses three questions to outline what it should mean to be science literate in today’s world: (1) How should we conceptualize science literacy? (2) How can we achieve this science…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Social Determinants | Decision Psychology | Preferences/Values | Culture/Society | Energy/Engineering | Education/Labor | North America -
ArticlePublication 2018How to Unring the Bell: A Meta-Analytic Approach to Correction of Misinformation
This study reports on a meta-analysis that attempts to correct misinformation. Results indicate that corrective …
This study reports on a meta-analysis that attempts to correct misinformation. Results indicate that corrective messages have a moderate influence on belief in misinformation; however, it is more difficult to correct for misinformation in the context of politics and marketing than health. Correction of real-world misinformation is more challenging, as opposed to constructed misinformation. Rebuttals are more effective than forewarnings, and appeals to coherence outperform fact-checking, and appeals to credibility. This description was adapted from…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Social Determinants | Culture/Society | Energy/Engineering | North America -
ArticlePublication 1964Epidemics and Rumors
Goffman and Newill directed attention to the analogy between the spreading of an infectious disease …
Goffman and Newill directed attention to the analogy between the spreading of an infectious disease and the dissemination of information. This article examines the spreading of a rumor from the point of view of mathematical epidemiology and briefly reports on work to be published in detail elsewhere. Authors emphasize that a mathematical model for the spreading of rumors can be constructed in a number of different ways, depending on the mechanism postulated to describe the…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Culture/Society -
EditorialPublication 2020Waiting for Certainty on COVID-19 Antibody Tests — At What Cost?
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation …
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation policy to reduce COVID-19 transmission. For example: Could we screen for serologic antibodies as a proxy for possible immunity and identify people who could return to the workplace with less severe mitigation measures? The authors acknowledge the uncertainties raised by many policy actors, including the WHO, such as, "Do antibodies confer immunity and, if so, for how long? How accurate is…
Health/Medicine | Global | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Technology Assessment | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | North America -
ArticlePublication 2020Interpreting COVID-19 Test Results: A Bayesian Approach
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction …
This article considers the following question with respect to interpreting the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays from nasal and pharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 to inform clinical decision making: "While a positive result in an acutely ill patient is straightforward, how should physicians interpret negative tests in patients with suspected COVID-19 infection?" Using an assumption of near-perfect specificity of PCR assays for COVID-19, the authors acknowledge the uncertainty of test sensitivity. They consider two clinical scenarios…
Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | Infectious Diseases | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance -
ArticlePublication 2018Applications of ECEA Methodology in DCP3
Extended cost-effectiveness analyses (ECEAs) build on cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) by assessing consequences in both the …
Extended cost-effectiveness analyses (ECEAs) build on cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) by assessing consequences in both the health and non-health domains. The ECEA approach proves novel in that it includes equity and non-health benefits (FRP) in the economic evaluation of health policies, which enables multiple criteria to factor in the decision-making process. More important, the ECEA approach enables the design of benefits packages, such as essential universal health care and the highest-priority package, based on the quantitative…
Health/Medicine | Global | Health Systems | Social Determinants | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Global Governance