It is how you say it !

If you give information, based on sound scientific reseach, will scientifically educated people believe you ?

Not necessarily !

This post is a very good illustration of it. I copy the key points here. But be sure to read at least the first halve of the original post.

– Pharmaceutical companies give misleading and biased information.

– Physicians prescribing habits are influenced by drug company interactions.

– Pharmaceutical reps and pharma sponsored lectures are often the number one source of continuing medical education.

– Small gifts of food, pens, and other paraphernalia create an obligation that alters prescribing behavior.

– The conclusions in published studies in peer review journals are in part determined by who provided the funding, and the more pharmaceutical funding, the more like the results will be in favor of the pharmaceutical company’s products.

– Physicians often do not know when they are being manipulated.

– Physicians deny that these interactions actually alter their practice. To quote one abstract “Although each physician is likely to consider himself or herself immune from being influenced by gift giving, he or she is suspicious that the “next person” is influenced.”

I assume in knowledge management there is the same bias : how the information is presented, by whom etc. can play an important role on whether or not it is believed or used.