Students in a First Year Research Experience [FYRE] class, conducted group projects focussed on “Communicating Research to public audiences”. Specifically, the projects examine how research opportunities have been impacted by the pandemic, and how to best leverage the currently predominant online instructional environment. Our group examined the communicative interactions between disciplinary groups throughout the Miami University Community. This attempts to simplify the way that researchers are able to effectively communicate their research findings to their target audience. This is critical because if research is not effectively communicated, it could lead to this research being completely nullified. The method used was interviewing members of the Miami University community to understand how they communicated research effectively. There were a total of nine people interviewed ranging from university professors to undergraduate students. During each interview, the subject previously prepared questions made to give insight into the effective methods of communication used when conveying research information in the Miami community. We were then able to compare what was found in the interviews to articles over similar findings to solidify the conclusions made from the interviews. After all of the interviews were conducted, we were able to transcribe them and find common themes between these transcriptions. This allowed us to effectively recognize familiar experiences between interviewees. The research conducted provided that in order to effectively communicate research, one must be able to understand their audience and adapt different communicative styles to present one’s results. This can be challenging because of the different barriers that hinder communication such as language, knowledge, and learning styles. Our research has been able to effectively solve such complications. Understanding effective ways to communicate your process and your findings can bring the information to larger groups of people including those outside of academics.
Authors: Vincent Fleming, Ian Weber, Jake Norz
Faculty Advisor: Joyce Fernandes, Biology
Graduate Student Advisor: Ally Tamez, Educational Leadership
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