SBP: Inequity and Mistrust of Scientific Information - Understanding Science Misinformation in Black Communities and Developing Community-Driven Science Communication Strategies

美国黑人的经历对科学和医学相关问题的有效沟通构成了特别的挑战，最近的错误信息运动越来越多地试图利用黑人社区中潜在的不信任信念来传播错误信息。虽然与新冠肺炎大流行相关的现象是最及时的，但有必要制定社区驱动的有效战略，在一系列与科学相关的问题上针对美国黑人，基于对与美国黑人独特的科学经验相关的具体信念和态度的详细调查结果。更清楚地了解美国黑人的经历如何塑造对科学相关主题的思考，以及可能导致接受(或拒绝)错误信息并在这些社区内形成(或避免)误解的群体层面的动态，对于推进人工智能、遗传学和基因组学等新兴领域的科学传播研究大有可为。这种方法将有助于指导更有效和更具包容性的公共参与努力，并为实践者提供新的见解，让他们了解如何负责任地解决各种科学问题和政策领域的信息传递中过去和现在的不平等问题，并制定适当的有针对性和量身定做的努力，以减轻短期和长期内关于科学主题的广泛错误信息的负面影响。为了解决这些问题，我们的项目采用迭代方法，更好地了解关于科学和科学机构的潜在信念和世界观与美国黑人科学误解之间的具体方式，然后与美国黑人社区合作，制定和测试传播战略，以便更有效地努力打击与科学有关的错误信息和误解。在该项目的早期阶段，我们将使用美国黑人焦点小组和美国黑人样本过多的全国调查，以确定美国黑人遇到与科学相关的错误信息的关键主题和问题，以及更好地了解美国黑人社区内与科学相关的具体信仰和世界观。基于这些发现，以及对有打击美国黑人社区错误信息历史的经验丰富的传播从业者的深入采访，我们将开发一个传播工具包，以指导其他从事类似努力的科学传播者在一系列与科学相关的问题上。该工具包中的关键战略和信息将在对美国黑人样本进行的三项全国调查实验中进行评估。在整个项目中，一系列的社区对话将支持研究人员和社区成员之间的丰富对话，确保我们的见解和建议的沟通策略将美国黑人的生活经历定位为他们参与科学信息、机构和职业生涯不可或缺的一部分。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。

Black American experiences can pose particular challenges for effective communication on issues related to science and medicine, and recent misinformation campaigns have increasingly sought to capitalize on beliefs underlying mistrust within Black communities to spread misinformation. While phenomena related to the COVID-19 pandemic are most timely, there is a need to develop community-driven, effective strategies for public communications targeted toward Black Americans on a range of science-related issues, based on detailed findings about specific beliefs and attitudes relevant to the unique experiences Black Americans have with science. Developing a clearer understanding of how Black American experiences shape thinking about science-related topics, and the group-level dynamics that may lead to the uptake (or rejection) of misinformation and the formation (or avoidance) of misperceptions within these communities, holds great promise for advancing research on science communication in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, genetics and genomics, and more. Such an approach would help guide more effective and inclusive public engagement efforts, and provide practitioners with new insights into how to responsibly address past and present inequities in messaging across a variety of scientific issues and policy areas, and to the development of appropriately targeted and tailored efforts to mitigate the negative effects of widespread misinformation about scientific topics, both in the short and long term.To address these issues, our project takes an iterative approach to better understand the specific ways that underlying beliefs and worldviews about science and scientific institutions are related to scientific misperceptions among Black Americans, and then, in conjunction with Black American communities, develop and test communication strategies for more effective efforts to combat science-related misinformation and misperceptions. In the earlier phases of the project, we will use Black American focus groups and national surveys with oversamples of Black Americans to identify key topics and issues in which Black Americans encounter science-related misinformation, as well as to better understand specific beliefs and worldviews related to science within Black American communities. Based on these findings, as well as in-depth interviews with seasoned communication practitioners with a history of combatting misinformation in Black American communities, we will then develop a communications toolkit to guide other science communicators engaged in similar efforts across a range of science-related issues. Key strategies and messages from the toolkit will be evaluated in three national survey experiments administered to Black American samples. Throughout the project, a series of community conversations will support a rich dialogue between researchers and community members, ensuring that our insights and recommended communications strategies position Black Americans' lived experiences as integral to their engagement with scientific information, institutions, and careers.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.