Research Methodology - Qi811: Chapter 4: How To Communicate Science With The Public

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY – QI811
Chapter 4: How to Communicate Science with

the Public
Dr. Jaime Alejandro Martínez Acosta
April, 2020
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Articles is no the only form to communicate
science.
• Are you sharing facts?

• Are you teaching?
• Are you persuading?
RAINES, L. 2016. “How to Communicate Science with the Public”. ACS BOOST Brazil. VAN’T HOOFT, A. 2012. "Cómo elaborar un cartel 2
científico". Revista de El Colegio de San Luis. v. 2(5). p. 135-145. Images from: www.google.com browser.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
How you communicate depends on whether you are:
• Publishing research results in a peer-reviewed

journal
• Presenting your results in a scientific meeting
• Interacting with students
• Discussing your research with the public
• Telling your neighbors all the good things that
science has done for the society
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Talking Points about Science
• Science is everywhere and contributes to everyone’s daily life
• Science and scientists drive innovations to discover solutions to problems
• Science and engineering are important to the world’s economic health
• A career in science offers opportunities to change the world
Examples:
-New drugs to cure diseases -Cleaner air and water
-Improved agricultural production -Alternative energy
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Speak Simply about your Work
No matter where you go or whom you’re talking to, you can tell them about your
science
Informal Talk – Key Points
• Whom am I talking to? – Connect to his/her work, community, or event
– Avoid using technical terms
• Will they be interested? – Show connection to real life situations
– Show enthusiasm and pride in what you do
• KISS (keep it short and simple) – 1 or 2 sentences, depending on situations
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
What do you do?
• I am a chemist, and I’m discovering drugs to cure cancer.
• I am a chemist and I help make the paints that people use in their home and on
things like bridges, buildings.
• I’m a scientist, and I’m trying to improve the yield of crops to produce more food.
• I’m a science professor, and I teach my students to discover nature and learn new
skills to get jobs.
• I’m a high school teacher, and I prepare students to major in science and
engineering in college.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Use the “Public” Communication Style
Before preparing a communication, you must first identify and analyze

your audience
– What are the demographics? • age, income, education
– What do they know or believe about the issue?
– Why should they care about this issue?
– Identify and understand a person’s emotional/physical/intellectual
needs for science. • Do they want to, or do they have to talk to you?
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Use the “Public” Communication Style
• In science and engineering, we start with introduction
(background) and proceed to experimental methods,
results, and conclusions.
• For the public, we need to start with the results and
the impact (why should they care) and delve into details
only to elaborate upon your message.
• Minimize unnecessary details. Repeat the message as
needed.
• Emphasize why the work is done and potential
applications.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Key Factors of Communication – 4C’s
Zein is a major protein found in corn. In this work, zein was modified
with several isocyanates and diisocyanates in solution to evaluate its
• Concise potential usage in bioplastics. The reactions are fairly complex, but
the major reaction pathways were identified with the help of NMR
• Compelling and FTIR. The key functionalities are amides, urea, and urethanes.
Gel electrophoretic patterns showed that diisocyanate crosslinked a
• Customized portion of zein to generate higher molecular weight species .
Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) data showed single glass
• Consistent transition temperatures in all cases indicating that homogeneous
blends were formed. The mechanical properties of modified zein were
either similar to unmodified zein or slightly reduced in some cases.
For all the isocyanates employed, the modified zein exhibits increased
water resistance, which enhances its applications as a major
ingredient in coatings.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Key Factors of Communication – 4C’s
• Concise With rising petroleum prices, there is increasing interest in using

natural renewable materials to make everyday things. Zein, a major
• Compelling protein of corn, can potentially be used in many applications, but its
poor water resistance property hinders its development. Scientists
• Customized have now shown that a particular reaction of zein can improve its
water resistance. As a result, this material can now replace some of
• Consistent the petroleum-based products in paints and coatings.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
The Main Channels for Communication
• Informal networking
• Formal one-on-one meeting
• Live presentation to group
• Event (Opportunities to embed science)
• Print media (newspapers, magazines, etc.)
• Broadcast media (radio, network TV, cable)
• Personal electronic media (social media, web, blogs)
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Trends in Communication Channels
• General decline of print media in favor of broadcast and (especially) personal
electronic (twitter, web and blogs).
– Coverage for science in print is down
– But coverage is up for local education, news, local government and politics
• Much of the population listens to the radio.
• Cable and on-line media are free from traditional publishing deadlines. The new
news cycle is 24/7.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Trends in Communication Channels
The Web is fundamentally changing the way we communicate:
– The Web is the journalism of the future.
– Web-conferences are replacing many meetings and one-to-group presentations.
– Networking applications (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Researchgate, etc.) help us identify

contacts and communities of interest.
– Generations communicated differently (texts vs. phone calls, etc.).
• Television is the primary source of science news for most people; the Web is a strong
second.
• Implication: Communication materials need to be shaped so that they can be used in a

variety of media.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Improve public image of science
• Gain an understanding of different communities and their values, interests, and
motivations (use successful examples).
• Embed scientific knowledge into the community’s already existing

systems/cultural activities.
Science divulgation events

• Science events are an excellent source of new knowledge, technologies and
innovation.
• Contacts, opportunities and knowledge transmission.
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
RAINES, L. 2016. “How to Communicate Science with the Public”. ACS BOOST Brazil. VAN’T HOOFT, A. 2012. "Cómo elaborar un cartel científico". 16
Revista de El Colegio de San Luis. v. 2(5). p. 135-145. Images from: www.google.com browser, Química faz bem Facebook page
COMMUNICATE SCIENCE
Robert Huber (Nobel Prize 1988) Max Planck Institute of
Biochemistry (Germany)
SIR J. Fraser Stoddart (Nobel Prize 2016) Department of

Chemistry - Northwestern University (USA)
RAINES, L. 2016. “How to Communicate Science with the Public”. ACS BOOST Brazil. VAN’T HOOFT, A. 2012. "Cómo elaborar un cartel científico". 17
Revista de El Colegio de San Luis. v. 2(5). p. 135-145. Images from: www.google.com browser, http://www.iupac2017.org/
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
A poster is a graphic summary of the advances or
results of a particular research project and as such
presents a relatively new way of scientific
communication.
Allows us to communicate informally and
synthetically to all kinds of public:
• with our peers (for example, at a specialized
international congress)
• with researchers from other areas (for example,
at a congress)
• with students in a student forum or with a
general public (at a science outreach event).
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
In a poster it is necessary to understand the bases of
visual language, in addition to fully grasping the
conceptual meditation of the poster, that is,
understand that it is about being as synthetic as
possible to express the essential.
Several researchers prefer to present a poster than a
presentation (or other type of presentation of
plenary modality), since they feel more comfortable
with this informal exhibition format.
However, there is a oral aspect in the presentation
of the poster that is combined with its exhibition,
since the public will be able to interact with the
author by commenting on the poster.
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
There is no single recipe for making a scientific poster. Posters they vary according to the discipline,
and even in a discipline there can be variations.
• Use colors correctly.
• Visually integrate the text for correct reading.
• Contextualize the graphic material (tables, photographs, diagrams, etc.).
• Choose an appropriate writing style.
• You should not vary too much the size or font.
• Choose a suitable typeface (Baskerville, Bodoni, Bookman Old Style, Cambria, Century Schoolbook,
Garamond, Palatino, Times and Times New Roman.).
• Avoid using a small font size (The minimum for regular text is 18-20 points)
• Do not overload the poster with text (350 words) and images (A good balance between text and
image is 50% -50%)
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Figures and tables design tips
• Design according to your audience
– What kind of event is this?
• Figures are key
– When start designing out research project, decide what figures you’d like to see in
your publication to tell the story
• Keep it simple by limiting your variations
– Shape, size, orientation, weight, position, color
• Make sure your text is readable and prominent, consider black & white printing
• Remove everything that does not convey data (chart junk)

BOHNE, C. 2016. “Publishing Your Research”. ACS BOOST Brazil. VAN’T HOOFT, A. 2012. "Cómo elaborar un cartel científico". Revista de 22
El Colegio de San Luis. v. 2(5). p. 135-145. Images from: www.google.com browser.
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Figures design tips
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Figures design tips
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Figures design tips
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Figures design tips
• Less Color (black, blue and red always works).
• Better type contrast and size.
• Important part of molecule is enlarged.
• Shadows and other unnecessary.
• Embellishments removed.
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Writing tips
• Introduction
- State objectives – the earlier the better
- Put work into context in the literature
- Provide an overview of previous work
- Consider what is the minimum information you need to provide
- Do not mention details you need in the discussion. State those in the
discussion
SCIENTIFIC POSTER
Writing tips
• Results
- Describe results with minimum interpretation
- Clearly separate topics
• Discussion
- Do not repeat a description of the results, but provide
context/explanations
- Describe the impact of the results

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY – QI811

Chapter 4: How to Communicate Science with

• Are you sharing facts?

• Publishing research results in a peer-reviewed

Before preparing a communication, you must first identify and analyze

• Concise With rising petroleum prices, there is increasing interest in using

– The Web is the journalism of the future.

– Web-conferences are replacing many meetings and one-to-group presentations.

– Networking applications (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Researchgate, etc.) help us identify

– Generations communicated differently (texts vs. phone calls, etc.).

• Implication: Communication materials need to be shaped so that they can be used in a

• Embed scientific knowledge into the community’s already existing

Science divulgation events

• Contacts, opportunities and knowledge transmission.

SIR J. Fraser Stoddart (Nobel Prize 2016) Department of

• Use colors correctly.

• Visually integrate the text for correct reading.

• Contextualize the graphic material (tables, photographs, diagrams, etc.).

• Choose an appropriate writing style.

• You should not vary too much the size or font.

– What kind of event is this?

• Figures are key

• Keep it simple by limiting your variations

– Shape, size, orientation, weight, position, color

• Remove everything that does not convey data (chart junk)

• Less Color (black, blue and red always works).

• Better type contrast and size.

• Important part of molecule is enlarged.

• Shadows and other unnecessary.

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