Wrestling Control from the Media: Considering the Methodology

The latest update on reported data concerning collegiate drinking was released earlier today - see http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090615093919.htm. I have followed this story with interest, including its 2 previous iterations going back to the original 2002 NIAAA Call to Action.

We who are concerned about this issue have to be careful, however, when considering data such as those reported, that we do not read too much into them. It is easy to have an "Oh, my God, we are going to hell in a booze-soaked hand basket..." reaction. This is what the media seek as they are motivated to prompt such reactions from readers/viewers as these are what prompt us to visit web sites and purchases newspapers and magazines.

When we consider the methodology used to deduce the numbers reported in this update, however, there may be room to question its accurateness and therefore question the veracity of the findings...and again, I am not a researcher and therefore not fully qualified to vet Dr. Hingson's research. There is an interesting article that focuses on fuzzy methodology and how the media can sometime jump to wrong conclusions and create a whole new reality to which the general public reacts within its customary "knee-jerk" fashion. See White Blankets Many Make You Smarter and Other Questionable Social Science Findings by Gregory Blimling (http://media.wiley.com/assets/774/94/jrnls_ABC_JB_blimling903.pdf).

These questions regarding the methodology of the collegiate drinking death and injury statistics were raised by FoxNews (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,50104,00.html) following the publication of the original 2002 Call to Action by the NIAAA. The Bliming article presents a more reasoned consideration of the questions surrounding these data (see account of the methodology used on page 3 of the article), but the point remains…can we generalize results to a population somewhat different than that from which the original data were collected?

I do not question that the problems associated with collegiate drinking are legion. Neither do I wish to minimize those problems or suggest that Ralph Hingson is “Chicken Little.” I do believe, however, that we who work in the field of prevention need to look beyond the headlines offered by by the media regarding scientific reports. We need to read the actual research to which the media snippets refer, including an account of the methodology employed to generate the reported data, to determine for ourselves if, "...we're not making progress..." and that this should be "...very concerning" as Dr. Hingson states in the article.

It is easy to become cynical, which is the step-father of “burn-out.” We certainly have more work to do…and our work is cut out for us, but I suggest that we step back and look at the big picture and not allow the media to educate us on the realities of our own field.

Robert J. Chapman, PhD