While the ScienceBloggers are busy shouting at each other over the Expelled Fiasco (details here) to promote (but not actually research) the competing beliefs that a) employing soft framing or b) shouting at hardline creationists will somehow get their message across to the middle-ground they ought to be trying to reach, some people are publishing real, peer-reviewed research relevant to the spread of woo and pseudoscience on the internet. Here's a review of "Parents' reliance on the Web to find information about children and families: Socio-economic differences in use, skills and satisfaction"

Without further ado, here's a bit of the intro. Some of it might seem a bit basic and obvious, but bear with me because if you're interested in engaging the public about quacks, this is important:

"Parents' access to childrearing information appears to be increasing, in large measure because of their reliance on the Web. Unfortunately the increase in Web use has been accompanied by a pronounced digital divide across socioeconomic status (SES) with greater use by higher SES parents. In recent years there have been suggestions of a divide in Web skills (e.g., searching for and evaluating credible sites) as well as in Web use. This gives rise to concerns about the quality of information to which lower SES parents have access."

The researchers team from Tufts University, Fred Rothbaum, Nancy Martland, and Joanne Beswick Jannsen, investigating two things in particular, the ability of parents to filter out good sources from bad (through effective search and the ability to discriminate), and their satisfaction with the results.

Information about child development has exploded in the last 50 years, with a bewildering array of resources available, offering sometimes conflicting advice. It is also a fertile ground for junk science, and existing research on parents' attitudes gives grounds for concern (my emphasis):

"Parents increasingly rely on the Web for a variety of types of information. Parents of autistic children indicate that they relied on the Web more than on any other resource in seeking information about the disorder [2]. When individuals who have already searched for health information on the Web were asked whom they would consult the next time they need reliable information about health or medical conditions, 58% selected the Web and only 35% selected a medical professional [3]. These findings indicate an increasing reliance on the Web as a source of childrearing information among parents."

If parents really trust the internet more than their own doctor, then it's time to get very concerned, and it makes understanding how they use this resource very important for public health and science outreach projects. The authors sum up the importance of this research with the following, slightly bizarre case study:

"A Google search of spanking (November 1, 2005), a common area of misinformation among parents [4], yielded over 2,000,000 sites. The first six of these sites entailed pornography. Modifying the search by typing “spanking children” yielded much more relevant sites. However, the first site listed was from a religious organization advocating spanking and other forms of physical punishment and did not cite research. By contrast, limiting one's search to “.edu” sites (using the advanced search option) or simply typing the word “research” before “spanking” led to a hit list consisting of research-based information from credible organizations. Searching in this more sophisticated manner would be an important part of Internet use training. As this example illustrates, parents who have sophisticated search skills are likely to find an entirely different set of sites than parents who lack those skills"

The study had 120 participants from a variety of backgrounds - not a great number admittedly, but the process they used was quite labour intensive. Whereas previous studies have often relied on self-reporting, the researches in this case actually invited the parents into the lab, asking them to conduct searches for information while thinking their thoughts out loud. This does raise an interesting thought - could the presence of the scientists in some way have somehow influenced the result? It's hard to say, but if it did you'd expect the result to go up (if parents felt their pride or perception of their parental ability was at stake), which would simply make the result more worrying still.

So the results? Well, not surprisingly those from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds had less web skills, and were less effective at searching for information. However, "Among parents in the high socioeconomic group, 40% said they were more likely to trust Web sites affiliated with credible organizations, like universities or research entities. Only 26% of parents in the middle socioeconomic group and 16% of parents in the low socioeconomic group expressed similar confidence in credible organizations.".

The authors go on to talk about the need for a greater emphasis in education on web skills, particularly in less-educated sections of U.S. society. But there's also a lesson to be learned for those of us interested in more effective science outreach. If we want to help stem the flow of quackery, we would be well advised to identify organizations that act as hubs for networks of those from low SES backgrounds - even churches, for example - and use them to target information at specific sectors of society.

It's not a panacea, it's not perfect, but it would be more of a useful strategy than hosting a big slanging match on the world's most influential science blogging community. I look forward to PZ Myers and Matt Nisbet delivering a sermon together in a Southern Church soon.

[1] ROTHBAUM, F., MARTLAND, N., JANNSEN, J. (2008). Parents' reliance on the Web to find information about children and families: Socio-economic differences in use, skills and satisfaction☆. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(2), 118-128. DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2007.12.002

[2] Department of PublicWelfare Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (2004, December). Autism task force final report. Harrisburg, PA: Office of the Secretary.

[3] Fox, S., & Fallows, D. (2003). Internet health resources: Health searches and email have become more commonplace, but there is room for improvement in searches and overall Internet success. Pew Internet & American Life Project.

[4] Zero to Three (2000). Survey reveals child development knowledge gap among adults. Retrieved November 1, 2005 from http://www.zerotothree.org/pr-survey.html