Communicating Clearly about Science and Medicine

Making Data Presentations as Simple as Possible ... But No Simpler

Scientific communication is challenging. The subject matter is complex and often requires a certain level of knowledge to understand it correctly; describing hazard ratios, interpreting Kaplan Meier curves and explaining confounding factors is different from talking about a new car or clothing range. Processes, for example in clinical trials, are laborious and tedious and knowing how much of the detail to include and exclude requires judgement. Conclusions are rarely clear cut making communicating statistical risk and probability tough, especially to non-statisticians and non-scientists such as journalists. Communicating Clearly about Science and Medicine looks at these and many more challenges, then introduces powerful techniques for overcoming them. It will help you develop and deliver impactful presentations on medical and scientific data and tell a clear, compelling story based on your research findings. It will show you how to develop clear messages and themes, while adhering to the advice attributed to Einstein: 'Make things as simple as possible...but no simpler.' John Clare illustrates how to communicate clearly the risks and benefits contained in a complex data set, and balance the hope and the hype. He explains how to avoid the 'miracle cure' or 'killer drug' headlines which are so common and teaches you how to combine the accuracy of peer-to-peer reviewed science with the narrative skills of journalism.