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

考虑到当前新冠肺炎引发的危机的严重性，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新冠肺炎的信息源具有时间敏感性，这为研究有效的科学传播做法及其影响提供了一个独特的机会。这项建议旨在通过以下方式利用和扩大以理论为基础的模式--研究与政策协作(RPC)的最新成功：(1)促进联邦和州决策者之间的科学交流和传播，(2)研究改进科学传播战略的机制，(3)测试科学传播努力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掌握在能够对其采取行动的个人手中，基于科学的政策可能会改善受新冠肺炎危机影响的个人的生活。我们需要找到有效接触政策制定者的方法，并为能够产生社会影响的研究交流战略提供信息。科学信息通常需要十多年的时间才能用于决策。有效的研究传播方法有可能缩短这一时间范围，并提高革命性的尖端科学知识的社会影响。研究方法涉及(1)部署快速周期随机对照试验(RCT)，该试验检查在新冠肺炎上向约3,500名联邦立法人员和州议员以及被确定为负责与卫生相关的政策问题的工作人员传播科学信息的电子邮件的打开率和点击率，以及(2)检查研究在法案语言和公开声明(如新闻稿、社交媒体)中的使用。联邦立法者将被随机分配到三组：(I)传播+互动，(Ii)仅传播，和(Iii)控制组。这一抽样策略建立在一项当前研究的基础上，该研究调查了由积极的RPC实施促进的国会与研究人员的互动。拟议的研究将把科学传播作为这一互动方法的一个附加部分进行调查。州立法者没有被指派通过积极的RPC实施来接受研究人员的互动。为了扩大时间敏感信息的传播范围，被分配到健康相关委员会的75%的州议员将获得传播，25%的州议员作为对照组。观察到的研究证据使用(URE)将根据先前工作中用于验证URE代码簿的语言，在法案语言和公开声明(包括社交媒体)中进行定量评估。这包括在美国对新冠肺炎做出反应之前的一年的预试期(大约2020年3月1日)和最初的新冠肺炎爆发后的一年的测试期(2021年3月)。虽然文献表明，及时性和相关性对城市资源研究至关重要，尤其是在危机时期，但还需要进行研究，以考察科学传播和传播在这种危机时期的影响。拟议的工作将通过前瞻性地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，大多数关于城市资源在政策制定中的研究都是通过要求政策制定者解释他们在制定政策时如何获取研究和使用研究来进行的。这项拟议的研究将是URE领域的一项重要资产，因为它将：(1)增进关于向联邦和州一级的政策制定者传达重要和可操作的科学证据的最有效机制的知识，以及(2)提高我们对实时科学传播和互动方法的影响的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.