When I work with academic authors, it’s assumed that most readers will be those with an interest in – and background knowledge of – their specific academic field.
Similarly, the reports I edit for an EU agency are aimed at readers who already have a certain level of knowledge about the subject, whether that’s vocational training systems, factors affecting the labour market, or updates on the situation in a particular country.
But what about communicating research to others? How can those with specialist knowledge convey information to others outside their sphere? And, in fact, why should they do this?
Although I rarely need to consider these questions in my day-to-day editing, I’m very interested in this issue. It’s something that researchers and others are having to be more conscious of – and that’s no bad thing.
Research communication meet-up
Image courtesy of Research Retold
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We considered the benefits of communicating research to different audiences outside the research community, and the various methods that could be used. Here are some of the key points that came out of the presentation by Research Retold’s founder, Mihaela Gruia, and the discussion that followed.
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Why is communicating research important?
- There’s evidence that a significant proportion of academic papers are never actually read.
- To maximise the impact of research, the findings need to be communicated so that they can be put into practice.
- With so much information and misinformation in circulation, it’s important that people can go back to the source to check the facts.
- Researchers often need to work hard to engage participants. Feeding results back to them helps to reinforce this.
- A great deal of research is publicly funded, so it’s only right that the findings are disseminated widely.
- Researchers can gain clarity on their own work when they have to explain it to others.
Tips
The description should answer the following questions:
- What problem did you address?
- How have you investigated it?
- Why should people care?
We tried this out in pairs during the event: each researcher explained their research to a non-researcher. This exercise proved to be quite challenging, but it was valuable. Of course, one key difference between this exercise and many forms of communication is that we non-researchers were able to ask questions and clarify anything that wasn’t clear. Often, the intended audience doesn’t have that opportunity, so it’s even more important to communicate clearly.
Different audiences
- Who are they?
- Why do you want or need to communicate with them?
- Why should they care about your research?
The next aspect is the method of communication. Mihaela Gruia showed us some real-life examples of types of publication that are suitable for different audiences.
- For policymakers, the information needs to be clear and concise, but with sufficient detail to convey the key points. Here, policy briefs and visual summaries can be appropriate.
- For business and the private sector, visual summaries and infographics catch people’s attention. It’s important to keep the presentation simple and to the point.
- For the media, a visual format can be appropriate, as can a more traditional media release. The Conversation is a useful outlet for researchers wishing to share their work with a non-research audience.
- For the general public, again, visual formats and media releases can work well. ‘General public’ might also include end users (for example, groups who will be directly affected by the research). Infographics and infocomics are eye-catching as well as informative, and they can be useful for storytelling.
A valuable event
It was good to step back from the words on the page and consider the wider aspects of communicating research. Thank you, Research Retold, for providing a forum for us all to do this!*
