HEDS is part of the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield. We undertake research, teaching, training and consultancy on all aspects of health related decision science, with a particular emphasis on health economics, HTA and evidence synthesis.

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Website of the month - Ask for Evidence

This month's website of the month is Ask for Evidence http://askforevidence.org/index

According to their website, Ask for Evidence is a public campaign that helps people request for themselves the evidence behind news stories, marketing claims and policies.
We hear daily claims about what is good for our health, bad for the environment, how to improve education, cut crime, treat disease or improve agriculture. Some are based on reliable evidence and scientific rigour. Many are not.
Ask for Evidence isn’t about leading an ‘evidence-based life’; it is about holding powerful figures to account and not having the wool pulled over our eyes on important issues. It is making sure that a discussion of the evidence is happening when it really matters. That might be when a public figure or authority makes a claim or decision on our behalf; or when public money or our health or safety is at stake.
Ask for Evidence is supported by hundreds of public figures, organisations and thousands of supporters such as Mumsnet, NHS Behind the Headlines and the Royal Statistical Society. The campaign has received core funding from The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and this website was built thanks to support from the Wellcome Trust.
Image of http://askforevidence.org/index website
http://askforevidence.org/index
Ask for Evidence was launched by Sense about Science in 2011. Sense about Science is a charity that helps people to make sense of science and evidence and promote use of evidence in public life. This takes us from responding to outlandish diet claims by celebrities to helping parents understand vaccines, from working with people with chronic diseases to beat misleading ‘cure’ claims on the Internet to pressing for sound use of statistics in media reporting.