How interdisciplinary collaboration helps communicate engineering research to community audiences

Justin Meyer; Laura Weiss; Donnelley Hayde; Meris Longmeier; Mingqi Cai; Sathya Gopalakrishnan

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Community Engagement Division Technical Session 3- Multi- and Inter-disciplinary, Collaboration, and Engagement in Practice
Page Count: 31
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40762
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40762
Download Count: 302

Donnelley Hayde is a Researcher in COSI’s Center for Research and Evaluation, with over a decade of experience as an applied social scientist and museum professional. Her current research interests include cultural alignment in museum experiences, play-based data collection, and the role of cultural and social capital in informal learning.

visit author page

biography

Mingqi Cai The Ohio State University

visit author page

Undergraduate Research Assistant

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Does interdisciplinary collaboration make a difference when it comes to communicating engineering concepts to community audiences? This research focuses on the effect of communication strategies on community attitudes toward engineering research. Two cohorts of four academic researchers each, representing eight different disciplinary backgrounds (aviation planning, cancer research, math education, musicology, chemical/biomolecular engineering, material science, soil science, and theater) developed research communication outputs for the public by creating: 1) an individual video presenting their research through the lens of their discipline alone; and 2) a convergent video where they collaboratively discussed their research with others in their cohort around a common theme, integrating all of their disciplinary lenses. Using a panel of respondents (n = 2,938) procured through Qualtrics, and purposefully recruited to create a diverse sample in age and racial/ethnic background, the research team randomly assigned respondents to watch one of three video treatments: one individual video, multiple individual videos, or a convergent video. Then, respondents answered a series of questions about their interest and knowledge of several STEM topics, both before and after watching the video(s). This retrospective pre/post questionnaire technique helps to alleviate response-shift bias present in self-assessed changes in learning attitudes. Our findings show that collaborative presentation videos increased self-reported audience interest in engineering, and perceptions of disciplinary relatedness more than the non-collaborative, individual presentations made by the same researchers. These results suggest a beneficial role for collaborative communication strategies to foster interest in engineering among public audiences, even among people without a background in STEM. Further, collaborative communication led to an increased sense of relatedness among different disciplines, which may be useful for effective public research communication about interdisciplinary engineering projects.

Citation
Format

Meyer, J., & Weiss, L., & Longmeier, M., & Gopalakrishnan, S., & Hayde, D., & Cai, M. (2022, August), How interdisciplinary collaboration helps communicate engineering research to community audiences Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40762

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Does interdisciplinary collaboration make a difference when it comes to communicating engineering concepts to community audiences? This research focuses on the effect of communication strategies on community attitudes toward engineering research. Two cohorts of four academic researchers each, representing eight different disciplinary backgrounds (aviation planning, cancer research, math education, musicology, chemical/biomolecular engineering, material science, soil science, and theater) developed research communication outputs for the public by creating: 1) an individual video presenting their research through the lens of their discipline alone; and 2) a convergent video where they collaboratively discussed their research with others in their cohort around a common theme, integrating all of their disciplinary lenses. Using a panel of respondents (n = 2,938) procured through Qualtrics, and purposefully recruited to create a diverse sample in age and racial/ethnic background, the research team randomly assigned respondents to watch one of three video treatments: one individual video, multiple individual videos, or a convergent video. Then, respondents answered a series of questions about their interest and knowledge of several STEM topics, both before and after watching the video(s). This retrospective pre/post questionnaire technique helps to alleviate response-shift bias present in self-assessed changes in learning attitudes. Our findings show that collaborative presentation videos increased self-reported audience interest in engineering, and perceptions of disciplinary relatedness more than the non-collaborative, individual presentations made by the same researchers. These results suggest a beneficial role for collaborative communication strategies to foster interest in engineering among public audiences, even among people without a background in STEM. Further, collaborative communication led to an increased sense of relatedness among different disciplines, which may be useful for effective public research communication about interdisciplinary engineering projects. 
AU  - Justin Meyer
AU  - Laura Weiss
AU  - Meris Longmeier
AU  - Sathya Gopalakrishnan
AU  - Donnelley Hayde
AU  - Mingqi Cai
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - How interdisciplinary collaboration helps communicate engineering research to community audiences
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40762
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--40762
ER  -