Exploring the effectiveness of using humor for communicating about science

探索使用幽默来传播科学的有效性

• 批准号: 1906864
• 负责人: Sara Yeo
• 金额: $ 75.42万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1906864&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; effectiveness; using; humor; communicating

Increasingly, scientists and their institutions are engaging with lay audiences via media. The emergence of social media has allowed scientists to engage with publics in novel ways. Social networking sites have fundamentally changed the modern media environment and, subsequently, media consumption habits. When asked where they primarily go to learn more about scientific issues, more than half of Americans point to the Internet. These online spaces offer many opportunities for scientists to play active roles in communicating and engaging directly with various publics. Additionally, the proposed research activities were inspired by a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that included a challenge to science communication researchers to determine better approaches for communicating science through social media platforms. Humor has been recommended as a method that scientists could use in communicating with publics; however, there is little empirical evidence that its use is effective. The researchers will explore the effectiveness of using humor for communicating about artificial intelligence, climate science and microbiomes.The research questions are: How do lay audiences respond to messages about scientific issues on social media that use humor? What are scientists' views toward using humor in constructing social media messages? Can collaborations between science communication scholars and practitioners facilitate more effective practices? The research is grounded in the theory of planned behavior and framing as a theory of media effects. A public survey will collect and analyze data on Twitter messages with and without humor, the number of likes and re-tweets of each message, and their scientific content. Survey participants will be randomly assigned to one of twenty-four experimental conditions. The survey sample, matching recent U.S. Census Bureau data, will be obtained from opt-in panels provided by Qualtrics, an online market research company. The second component of the research will quantify the attitudes of scientists toward using humor to communicate with publics on social media. Data will be collected from a random sample of scientists and graduate students at R1 universities nationwide. Data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression modeling.The broader impacts of this project are twofold: findings from the research will be shared with science communication scholars and trainers advancing knowledge and practice; and an infographic (visual representation of findings) will be distributed to practitioners who participate in research-practice partnerships. It will provide a set of easily-referenced, evidence-based guidelines about the types of humor to which audiences respond positively on social media. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program which funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings.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.

科学家及其机构越来越多地通过媒体与普通观众互动。社交媒体的出现使科学家能够以新颖的方式与公众互动。社交网站从根本上改变了现代媒体环境，进而改变了媒体消费习惯。当被问及他们主要去哪里了解更多科学问题时，超过一半的美国人指出了互联网。这些在线空间为科学家提供了许多机会，让他们在与各种公众直接沟通和接触方面发挥积极作用。此外，拟议的研究活动受到美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院最近的一份报告的启发，其中包括对科学传播研究人员的挑战，以确定通过社交媒体平台传播科学的更好方法。幽默被推荐为科学家与公众交流的一种方法；然而，几乎没有经验证据表明其使用是有效的。研究人员将探索使用幽默来交流人工智能、气候科学和微生物组的有效性。研究问题是：普通受众如何回应社交媒体上使用幽默的有关科学问题的信息？科学家对使用幽默构建社交媒体信息有何看法？科学传播学者和实践者之间的合作能否促进更有效的实践？该研究以计划行为理论和作为媒体效应理论的框架为基础。一项公共调查将收集和分析 Twitter 消息中是否有幽默的数据、每条消息的点赞和转发数量及其科学内容。调查参与者将被随机分配到二十四个实验条件之一。该调查样本与美国人口普查局最近的数据相匹配，将从在线市场研究公司 Qualtrics 提供的选择加入小组中获得。该研究的第二部分将量化科学家对在社交媒体上使用幽默与公众交流的态度。 数据将从全国 R1 大学的科学家和研究生中随机抽取。将使用描述性统计和回归模型对数据进行分析。该项目的更广泛影响是双重的：研究结果将与科学传播学者和培训师分享，以推进知识和实践；信息图表（结果的视觉表示）将分发给参与研究实践伙伴关系的从业者。它将提供一套易于参考、基于证据的指南，介绍受众在社交媒体上积极反应的幽默类型。该项目由推进非正式 STEM 学习计划资助，该计划资助在各种环境中使用的创新研究、方法和资源。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过利用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

项目成果

Following science on social media: The effects of humor and source likability

在社交媒体上关注科学：幽默和来源喜爱度的影响

• DOI: 10.1177/0963662520986942
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Public Understanding of Science
• 影响因子: 4.1
• 作者: Yeo, Sara K.;Cacciatore, Michael A.;Su, Leona Yi-Fan;McKasy, Meaghan;O’Neill, Liane
• 通讯作者: O’Neill, Liane

Predicting Intentions to Engage With Scientific Messages on Twitter: The Roles of Mirth and Need for Humor

• DOI: 10.1177/1075547020942512
• 发表时间: 2020-07-28
• 期刊: SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
• 影响因子: 9
• 作者: Yeo, Sara K.;Su, Leona Yi-Fan;Qian, Sijia
• 通讯作者: Qian, Sijia

The differential effects of humor on three scientific issues: global warming, artificial intelligence, and microbiomes

• DOI: 10.1080/21548455.2022.2123259
• 发表时间: 2022-09
• 期刊: International Journal of Science Education, Part B
• 作者: Sara K. Yeo;Leona Yi-Fan Su;M. Cacciatore;Jennifer Shiyue Zhang;Meaghan McKasy

Generating Science Buzz: An Examination of Multidimensional Engagement With Humorous Scientific Messages on Twitter and Instagram

引发科学热潮：对 Twitter 和 Instagram 上幽默科学信息的多维参与进行检验

• DOI: 10.1177/10755470211063902
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Science Communication
• 影响因子: 9
• 作者: Su, Leona Yi-Fan;McKasy, Meaghan;Cacciatore, Michael A.;Yeo, Sara K.;DeGrauw, Alexandria R.;Zhang, Jennifer Shiyue
• 通讯作者: Zhang, Jennifer Shiyue

Operationalizing science literacy: an experimental analysis of measurement

• DOI: 10.22323/2.19040203
• 发表时间: 2020-01-01
• 期刊: JCOM-JOURNAL OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
• 影响因子: 1.8
• 作者: McKasy, Meaghan;Cacciatore, Michael;O'Neill, Liane
• 通讯作者: O'Neill, Liane