Why is scientific evidence only one input into a policy decision?

Recall questions on who is involved when society decides about scientific issues, peer review, media, ethics committees, funding and public opinion, and psychology's contribution to the economy, workplaces, eyewitness questioning, education, health and childcare.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Explain how public opinion can influence a scientific decision even when the evidence is clear.

Key term

How has research on memory changed the way witnesses are questioned?

Key term

Who are the main groups involved when society makes decisions about scientific issues?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Who are the main groups involved when society makes decisions about scientific issues?
Model answer
Governments and policy-makers, regulatory and advisory bodies, funding bodies, researchers themselves, the media and the wider public.
2
Why is scientific evidence only one input into a policy decision?
Model answer
Decisions also have to weigh economic cost, practicality, ethical concerns and public values, which evidence alone cannot settle.
3
Why do policy-makers place particular weight on peer-reviewed research?
Model answer
Because it has already been scrutinised by independent experts, so it is more likely to be methodologically sound than unreviewed claims.
4
How can the media distort the way a scientific issue is decided?
Model answer
By reporting single striking studies without their limitations, which can exaggerate a finding and shift public opinion ahead of the evidence.
5
Why is a single study rarely enough to change policy?
Model answer
One study may be unrepresentative or a chance result, so decisions are usually based on a body of replicated evidence.
6
What role do ethics committees play in decisions about research?
Model answer
They judge whether the likely benefits of a proposed study justify the risks to participants, and can require changes or refuse approval.

See the rest and revise

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book

2Open book

3Closed book

See a huge jump in your memorisation

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Research Methods and Techniques

Planning and Conducting Research

Data Recording, Analysis and Presentation

Report Writing and Scientific Communication

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

The tests are a old.

centurydecadeyear

Blank Blitz consolidates the facts

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

APunishment requires deprivation, loss of autonomy and stigma.

BReform requires trust, responsibility and self-respect.

CThe regime that achieves one tends to undermine the other.

Build It trains answer structure

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Range means the highest score minus the lowest score.

TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Practical Activities and the Nature of Science, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Start revising, £5 a month See how the method works

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.