The following is a research paper presentation for Experimental Methods at Louisiana State University. All research is based on an IRB-approved survey experiment conducted by Paige Brown in Spring 2014. Please contact Paige for more details. Update: Gender of the survey taker was controlled for in statistical analyses describing the effects of gender in the press release.

1. DonStalons,CDC.gov

3. Image: Nature feature
http://www.nature.com/news/specials/sciencejournalism/index.html
What’s wrong with this picture? (Hint* Women in science?!)

4. Control Conflict/Controversy news factor Reliability of facts news factor
“This survey concerns an
interest in how science
journalists use a variety
of news factors in their
selection of potential
science news stories…
“This survey concerns an interest in how
science journalists use conflict or
controversy as criteria in their selection of
potential science news stories. [description
of conflict / controversy] Part I of this survey
revealed that on average, science journalists
rated conflict or controversy as an
important criterion of newsworthiness in
their selection and production of potential
science news stories […] rated this news
factor 8.0 on an 11-point scale…
This survey concerns an interest in how
science journalists use reliability of factual
information as a criterion in their selection
of potential science news stories.
[description of reliability of facts] Part I of
this survey revealed that on average,
science journalists rated reliability of
factual information as an important
criterion in their selection and production
of potential science news stories. […] rated
this news factor 9.9 on an 11-point scale…
1. News Factor Priming condition (random assignment)
2. Press Release on a Scientific Study
(independent random assignment)
Confirming quote
(female)
Confirming quote
(male)
Disconfirming quote
(female)
Disconfirming quote
(male)
3. Survey Questions: How newsworthy was the press release?

5. Male
Condition
Female Condition

8. Table 3.
Based on your reading, on a scale of
0-10, how newsworthy is the story in
the press release in terms of…
Confirming Press
Release
Disconfirming Press
Release
Mean SD Mean SD
Significance/Public Impact 7.99** 2.47 6.85 2.64
Meaningfulness/Relevance to
readers
7.15* 2.60 6.25 2.61
Novelty/Unexpectedness 7.40 2.42 7.01 2.40
Currency 8.23** 2.46 7.17 2.77
Conflict/Controversy 3.94 2.53 5.08** 2.50
Unambiguity 6.36* 2.64 5.49 2.44
Reliability of Facts 7.47** 2.20 6.65 2.36
Human Interest 6.92** 2.90 5.78 2.90
Note: *p < .05; **p < .01

9. Table 4 – Post-Hoc comparisons for press release stimulus condition based on gender of quoted outside
source.
Confirming
Female
Confirming
Male
Disconfirming
Female
Disconfirming
Male
Univariate F Partial
eta2
Likelihood1 1.96 .027
M 6.11a 5.28ab 4.84b 4.80b
S.E. .42 .41 .46 .45
Likelihood2 1.04 .015
M 5.52a 4.71a 4.53a 4.86a
S.E. .42 .41 .45 .45
Likelihood3 1.21 .017
M 6.52a 6.28a 5.62a 6.16a
S.E. .33 .32 .36 .35
Likelihood4 .25 .02
M 6.94a 7.15a 6.41a 6.27a
S.E. .35 .34 .37 .37
Multivariate: Wilk’s lamda = .937, F(12, 548) = 1.14, p > .05, Partial Eta Squared = .022
Means with different lowercase subscripts are significantly different from one another, p < .05 (no
adjustment for multiple comparisons).