RAPID: Testing Science Communication Strategies and Impact among Policymakers During a National Crisis

RAPID：测试国家危机期间决策者的科学传播策略和影响

• 批准号: 2030660
• 负责人: Jennifer Scott
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2030660&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Testing; Science; Communication; Strategies

Given the magnitude of the current crisis caused by COVID-19, it has arguably never been more important for scientists to communicate to policymakers their research on virus transmission, prevention, and social and economic consequences that families face. The time sensitive nature of policymakers’ acquisition and use of information sources regarding COVID-19 presents a unique opportunity to study effective science communication practices and their impact. This proposal aims to capitalize and expand upon recent successes of a theory-based model, the Research-to-Policy Collaboration (RPC), by: (1) facilitating science communication and dissemination among federal and state policymakers, (2) studying mechanisms for improving science communication strategies and (3) testing the impact of science dissemination efforts and added value of scientist interactions with state and federal policymakers. By getting critical scientific information regarding a current national crisis into the hands of individuals who can act on it, science-based policies may improve the lives of individuals affected by the COVID-19 crisis. We need to identify ways to effectively reach policymakers and inform research communication strategies that can achieve social impact. Scientific information often takes over a decade before it is used in decision making. Effective research dissemination approaches have the potential to shorten that time horizon and improve the societal impact of revolutionary, cutting-edge scientific knowledge.Study methods involve (1) deploying rapid-cycle randomized controlled trials (RCT) that examine open- and click-rates of emails that disseminate scientific information on COVID-19 to approximately 3,500 federal legislative staff and state legislators and staff who are identified as being assigned to health-related policy issues, and (2) examining the use of research in bill language and public statements (e.g., press releases, social media). Federal legislators will be randomly assigned to three groups: (i) dissemination + interactions, (ii) dissemination only, and (iii) control group. This sampling strategy builds on a current study investigating congressional-researcher interactions facilitated by an active RPC implementation. The proposed study will investigate science dissemination as an add-on component to that interactive approach. State legislators have not been assigned to receive researcher interactions via the active RPC implementation. To increase the reach of time-sensitive information, 75% of state legislators assigned to health-related committees will receive the dissemination and 25% serve as a control group. Observed use of research evidence (URE) will be quantitatively assessed in bill language and public statements, including social media, based on language that was used to validate a URE codebook in prior work. This includes a pre-test period of 1 year prior to US-based responses to COVID-19 (approximately March 1, 2020) and 1-year post-test period following the initial COVID-19 outbreak (March 2021). While the literature illustrates that timeliness and relevance are essential to URE, particularly in times of crisis, studies are needed to examine the impact of science communications and dissemination during such periods of crisis. The proposed work would build the literature base by prospectively assessing the impact of strategies for enhancing evidence use. Importantly, most studies of URE in policymaking have been done retrospectively by asking policymakers to explain how they access research and use it when developing policies. The proposed study will be a substantial asset for the URE field because it will: (1) advance knowledge of what mechanisms are most effective for conveying important and actionable scientific evidence to policymakers at both the federal and state levels and (2) improve our understanding of the impact of real-time science dissemination and interactive approaches.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

鉴于COVID-19造成的当前危机的严重性，科学家向政策制定者传达他们对病毒传播、预防以及家庭面临的社会和经济后果的研究可以说是前所未有的重要。政策制定者获取和使用有关COVID-19的信息来源具有时间敏感性，这为研究有效的科学传播实践及其影响提供了一个独特的机会。该提案旨在利用和扩大最近成功的理论为基础的模式，研究政策合作（RPC），通过：（1）促进科学交流和传播之间的联邦和州的政策制定者，（2）研究机制，以改善科学传播战略和（3）测试科学传播工作的影响和科学家与州和联邦政策制定者互动的附加值。 通过将有关当前国家危机的关键科学信息交到能够采取行动的个人手中，基于科学的政策可能会改善受COVID-19危机影响的个人的生活。我们需要确定有效接触决策者的方法，并为能够产生社会影响的研究传播战略提供信息。科学信息往往需要十多年才能用于决策。有效的研究传播方法有可能缩短这一时间范围，并提高革命性前沿科学知识的社会影响。研究方法包括：（1）部署快速循环随机对照试验（RCT），检查传播COVID-19科学信息的电子邮件的打开率和点击率，约为3，500名联邦立法工作人员和州立法人员以及被确定为被分配到与健康有关的政策问题的工作人员，以及（2）检查在法案语言和公开声明中使用研究（例如，新闻稿、社交媒体）。联邦立法者将被随机分配到三个组：（i）传播+互动，（ii）仅传播，（iii）对照组。这种抽样策略建立在目前的研究调查国会研究人员的互动促进了积极的RPC实施。拟议的研究将调查科学传播作为互动方法的附加组成部分。州立法者还没有被分配通过主动RPC实现接收研究人员的交互。为了增加时间敏感信息的传播范围，75%的州议员被分配到与健康有关的委员会，25%的人作为对照组。观察到的研究证据（URE）的使用将在法案语言和公开声明（包括社交媒体）中进行定量评估，基于先前工作中用于验证URE码本的语言。这包括美国对COVID-19作出回应前一年的测试前期间（约二零二零年三月一日）及COVID-19首次爆发后一年的测试后期间（二零二一年三月）。虽然文献表明，及时性和相关性是必不可少的URE，特别是在危机时期，需要研究，以审查在这种危机时期的科学传播和传播的影响。拟议的工作将通过前瞻性评估加强证据使用的战略的影响来建立文献基础。重要的是，大多数关于政策制定中的统一参考的研究都是回顾性的，要求政策制定者解释他们如何获得研究成果并在制定政策时使用它。拟议的研究将是URE领域的重要资产，因为它将：（1）推进了解什么机制是最有效的传达重要的和可操作的科学证据，以决策者在联邦和州一级和（2）提高我们的理解的影响，真实的-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。