Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda

Review
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2017 Mar 8.

Excerpt

Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, people face an increasing need to integrate information from science with their personal values and other considerations as they make important life decisions about medical care, the safety of foods, what to do about climate change, and many other issues. Communicating science effectively, however, is a complex task and an acquired skill. Moreover, the approaches to communicating science that will be most effective for specific audiences and circumstances are not obvious. Fortunately, there is an expanding science base from diverse disciplines that can support science communicators in making these determinations.

Communicating Science Effectively offers a research agenda for science communicators and researchers seeking to apply this research and fill gaps in knowledge about how to communicate effectively about science, focusing in particular on issues that are contentious in the public sphere. To inform this research agenda, this publication identifies important influences—psychological, economic, political, social, cultural, and media-related—on how science related to such issues is understood, perceived, and used.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This activity was supported by Contract No. 10002665 from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a grant from Climate Central via the Rita Allen Foundation, Contract No. 10002742 with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Contract No. 10002754 with The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Contract No. 10002820 with The Hewlett Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.