Assessing motivations and barriers to science outreach within academic science research settings: A mixed-methods survey
Assessing motivations and barriers to science outreach within academic science research settings: A mixed-methods survey
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DOI：
10.3389/fcomm.2022.907762
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发表时间：
2022-08-24
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Garbarino, Jeanne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Woitowich, Nicole C.;Hunt, Geoffrey C.;Garbarino, Jeanne
科学推广实践比以往任何时候都更加必要。然而，科学推广的既定目标与其实际影响之间存在脱节。为了检查这种脱节的一个潜在根源，我们进行了一项基于调查的研究，以探讨学术界内是否存在参与科学推广的障碍（无论是内在的还是外在的）。我们收到了 530 人对调查的回复，其中绝大多数每年都会参与某种类型的科学推广活动。那些参与外展的人报告说，这样做是出于个人和利他的原因，并且对进行外展活动有很高的（但不同的）舒适度。受访者还表示，参与方面存在一些重大但可克服的障碍，包括缺乏时间和资金。我们的研究结果表明，学术界对科学推广的参与程度和态度普遍都是有利的，这表明科学推广普遍无效是由其他原因造成的。我们将我们的发现置于更广泛的科学推广、科学传播和公众参与文献的背景下。我们就如何并且必须改变现有方法和基础设施以改进实践提出建议。
The practice of science outreach is more necessary than ever. However, a disconnect exists between the stated goals for science outreach and its actual impact. In order to examine one potential source of this disconnect, we undertook a survey-based study to explore whether barriers to participation (either intrinsic or extrinsic) in science outreach exist within the academic community. We received responses to our survey from 530 individuals, the vast majority of whom engage in some type of science outreach activity on an annual basis. Those who engage in outreach report doing so for both personal and altruistic reasons, and having high (yet varied) levels of comfort with performing outreach activities. Respondents also report the existence of several significant yet surmountable barriers to participation, including lack of time and funding. Our findings demonstrate that both levels of participation in, and attitudes toward, science outreach within the academic community are generally favorable, suggesting that the general ineffectiveness of science outreach is due to other causes. We place our findings within the context of the broader science outreach, science communication and public engagement literature. We make recommendations on how existing approaches and infrastructure can, and must, be changed in order to improve the practice.