SPUR Project

2011 winner (19 of 20)

Public Health Reasoning

Supervisor: Professor Louise Cummings (English, Culture and Media)

Student: Gavin Brookes

The study was an investigation of the reasoning strategies people employ to make judgements on a range of public health problems. Forming judgements about the risks posed by infectious diseases and the safety of vaccinations and food is increasingly part of the scientific reasoning which must be performed by the public, yet these judgements presuppose some ability to manipulate complex scientific issues which is often beyond the grasp of the public. The project explored the extent to which the public uses well known strategies to come to judgements about public health issues. Student tasks included participant recruitment, coding and inputting questionnaire data and assisting with data analysis and reporting.