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Five rules for evidence communication

Avoid unwarranted certainty, neat narratives and partisan presentation; strive to inform, not persuade.
  1. Michael Blastland

    1. Michael Blastland is a board member at the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, University of Cambridge, UK.

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  2. Alexandra L. J. Freeman

    1. Alexandra L. J. Freeman is executive director at the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, University of Cambridge, UK.

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  3. Sander van der Linden

    1. Sander van der Linden is a board member at the Winton Centre and director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab, University of Cambridge, UK.

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  4. Theresa M. Marteau

    1. Theresa M. Marteau is a board member at the Winton Centre and director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit, University of Cambridge, UK.

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  5. David Spiegelhalter

    1. David Spiegelhalter is chair of the Winton Centre.

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An elderly woman looks up at a large model of a clown character in a surgical face mask outside a fancy dress shop in Cardiff

Consider what information — in what format — would best support your audiences’ decisions. Credit: Matthew Horwood/Getty

“Be persuasive”, “be engaging”, “tell stories with your science”.

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Nature 587, 362-364 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03189-1

References

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  8. van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., Rosenthal, S. & Maibach, E. Glob. Challenges 1, 1600008 (2017).

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  9. Leng, G. & Leng, R. I. The Matter of Facts: Skepticism, Persuasion, and Evidence in Science (MIT Press, 2020).

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Supplementary Information

  1. Supplementary information updated

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