PRIMING SCIENCE: WRITING EMERGING SCIENCE TO ENGAGE RESOURCE NAVIGATORS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1005942
• Project No.: WYO-550-15
• Project Start Date: Feb 12, 2015
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2016

Project Director
Hild, AN.

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
1000 E UNIVERSITY AVE DEPARTMENT 3434
LARAMIE,WY 82071-2000

Performing Department
Ecosystem Science and Management

Non Technical Summary
Science communication is a crucial interface between researchers and natural resource navigators. Because academics are trained to write for other scientists they use highly technical language, often incomprehensible to managers. Communication gaps hinder manager applications of science. We must hone our approaches to scientific dialogue. We will test how compelling language (priming) influences reception of scientific concepts. We will use responses from "resource navigators" (in this study, individuals in production, policy-making, or policy application) to define the success of different priming approaches immediately and one month after reading scientific texts. The outcomes of this study include training workshops for researchers and Extension Educators, and a workshop to dialogue with navigators. We have developed short educational texts on "managing for uncertainty" and two "primers" using either "negative" ("invasion," "loss") or "positive" ("opportunity," "gain") content, refined the survey, and initiated these methods. We will continue to assess Wyoming navigators, refine our primers for a national audience and develop trainings. This effort strengthens agricultural sustainability, by helping scientists communicate their research to foster management applications. Science communication is a national issue identified by NSF and USDA under "broader impacts" of research.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

45%

Applied

45%

Developmental

10%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
121	0790	3080	80%
121	0199	3020	20%

Knowledge Area
121 - Management of Range Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0790 - Rangelands, other; 0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education; 3080 - Sociology;

Keywords

writing science

communication

natural resources

Goals / Objectives
Goals are to document the impact of framing language on the reception of scientific communications by natural resource managers. We will document the differences among different priming language that introduces scientific concept decscriptions. We propose to apply this knowlede to improving the impact of science by demonstrating ways to incerease receptiveness to science in written presentations.

Project Methods
We will conduct interview surveys of land managers to record the differences among framing techniques for scientific text (positive, neutral and negative or combative framing). Texts will be presented to managers and to policy makers. Responses will be recorded to a series of questions prior to, immediately after and in longer-term (one-three months) following the presentation of the framing texts. Surveys will be administered to the manager audiences in the western region (primarily Wyoming, Colorado, and at the annual meetings in California (which unites managers from 14 western states). Data will be analyzed to assess how alternate priming approaches alter manager receptiveness to scientific knowledge. Participants will be randomly assigned to priming approaches. Respondents will rate the veracity of statements about their response to text (i.e. discouraged vs encouraged....). Prior, immediate, and follow up responses will be obtained for the same survey questions. Surveys will be analyzed appropriate to repeated measures and examined in cluster analysis by producer versus policy maker groups.

Progress 02/12/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Presented to Society for Range Management annual meeting in Feb. 2016 to audiences of natural resource managers, educators, students and agricultural producers and natural resource policy-makers. The meeting includes national and international audiences and many agricultural producers from developing countries. This research was also presented to local audiences of producers at field day events throughout Wyoming. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training for academic, producer and policy-making audiences provided information at field days relative to the impact of primers. In addition, one graduate student was trained and was able to present 3 public talks from her research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We are using our findings to develop a curriculum for delivery of science to land managers. We plan to (1) introduce key concepts for interfacing with user-groups for enhancing the effectiveness of science delivery; and (2) hold a workshop to share communication techniques among teachers such as Extension personnel and graduate students tasked with delivery of scientific knowledge. Results were disseminated at field day meetings across Wyoming with agricultural producers, at national meeting via a paper presentation and a poster. The results were documented in a dissertation and will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals in spring 2017. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Our results indicate that the language used to present technical information does influence how an audience receives it. Different value-loaded content (priming) can change audience perception of technical information. Often, readers receiving "positive" contexts shifted their assessments less and remained more neutral than "negative"-context readers. In both our state and national surveys, we found that readers with less direct experience of landscape (e.g., time spent working indoors) shifted their assessments more readily than readers who have more direct field experience.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Gunther, K, A. L. Hild, S. L. Bieber, and J. J. Shinker. 2016. Bridging the gap: Techniques for improving scientific communication among rangeland stakeholders. SRM 69th Annual Meeting.Corpus Christi, Tx.Jan 31-Feb 5, 2016. Paper presentation.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Gunther, K. and A. Hild. 2016 Approaches for communicating rangeland science:results from statewide and national surveys. SRM 69th Annual Meeting.Corpus Christi, Tx.Jan 31-Feb 5, 2016. Poster.

Progress 02/12/15 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:We interacted with land managers and producers at 3 field days in Wyoming. In addition the graduate student presented a paper and a poster at national meetings of Society for Range Management. Surveys were conducted at international annual meeting of SRM and at local field days. Results were presented in Feb. 2016 at international SRM meeting. Student was awarded first place in the Graduate student poster competition there. Changes/Problems:Outcomes of data analysis suggests that the training materials we develop related to using primers will be more successful if we target audiences (stakeholders with hands-on experience) and if we refine training materials for scientific audiences such as graduate students. We will refine our workshop plans accordingly. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have presented the preliminary results at AES Field Days in Wyoming and at national meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results presented in Feb 2015 in Sacramento California as a poster at the annual SRM meeting. Abstract for presentation at the Feb. 2016 meeting was submitted in August 2015. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Complete data analyses, prepare a draft manauscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal and provide training workshops within Wyoming on use of primers in communicating scientific concepts to land manager audiences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We accomplished completion of local and national surveys in the last year. Initial data analyses reveals that reception of scientific concepts differs among land managers who have hands on experience from those who have conceptual knowlege of ecological principles alone. In addition, stakeholders who have hands on experience tend to respond more strongly to negative framing language primers associated with technical text. Continued analyses will develop these and additional comparators more fully.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Guenther, K. A. L. Hild, S. L. Bieber, and J. J. Shinker. 2015. Bridging the gap: Techniques for improving scientific communication among rangeland stakeholders. Paper presentation, Society for Range Management Annual meeting Sacramento, CA. Feb. 2015.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gunther, K., A.L. Hild, S. L. Bieber and J.J. Shinker. Priming Science: Writing emerging Science to engage resource navigators. AES 2015 Field Days Bulletin. University of Wyoming, Laramie.