7) It's research, it must be true

The BBC reported a new LSE study that showed 1 in 5 of the UKs 16/17 year olds are not in education employment or training (NEET), which is double the official figure. The research also featured on the BBC television news as a mid range item. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7515042.stm When I saw this, I thought the finding was both interesting and what I had feared. I also mused how relatively obscure pieces of local research can be rapidly circulated by international news agencies, for example, I found it repeated the following day on a news site aimed at the Indian community in Thailand http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/teen-troubles-target-britain_10073708.html Just one detail of a problem with the story: there is no such research report. I discovered this when I went to the LSE website and tried to view the details of the research, (I’ve been around long enough to know that you are unwise to take press releases on trust, always ask to see the data and methodology); when I couldn’t find any trace or reference to this research on the LSE website I started making inquiries. Long story short: it turns out that at a public meeting one of the LSE’s researchers had suggested that it may be the case that there are more young people not in employment, education or training than government figures suggest and this got a little twist by a listening journalist into ‘a study at the LSE has shown’ and there you go, the hare is running. Shame that not one of the people who ran the story bothered to check, or am I just being old fashioned, never let the facts get in the way of a good story.