Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions

The fields of science education and science communication share the overarching goal of helping non-experts and non-members of the professional science community develop knowledge of the content and processes of scientific research. However, the specific audiences, methods, and aims employed in the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Davis, Pryce, Russ, Rosemary S.
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46170/
_version_ 1848797272184193024
author Davis, Pryce
Russ, Rosemary S.
author_facet Davis, Pryce
Russ, Rosemary S.
author_sort Davis, Pryce
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The fields of science education and science communication share the overarching goal of helping non-experts and non-members of the professional science community develop knowledge of the content and processes of scientific research. However, the specific audiences, methods, and aims employed in the two fields have evolved quite differently and as a result, the two fields rarely share findings and theory. Despite this lack of crosstalk, one theoretical construct—framing—has shown substantial analytic power for researchers in both fields. Specifically, both fields have productively made use of the fact that when people approach situations or texts in the world, they do so with a sense of “what is going on here” that guides their actions and sense-making in that situation. In this article, we examine the dynamics of how interactions between scientists, reporters, members of the general public, and various texts give rise to in-the-moment frames that shape each actors interpretation of scientific research. In doing so we couple science communication literature's focus on framings within and across texts with science education's focus on dynamic framing in interactions. We present a case study that follows a single piece of scientific research from scientist to reporter to the general public. Through semi-structured clinical interviews, video-based observation, and qualitative content analysis, we demonstrate that changes in science knowledge as it moves along the pathways of science communication are the aggregate result of dynamic moment-to-moment framings dispersed over people and interactions. The complexity and nuance of the story presented here have implications for how each field—science communication and science education—conceptualizes the process by which the public comes to knowledge of science.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:01:14Z
format Article
id nottingham-46170
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:01:14Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Wiley
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-461702020-05-04T17:00:18Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46170/ Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions Davis, Pryce Russ, Rosemary S. The fields of science education and science communication share the overarching goal of helping non-experts and non-members of the professional science community develop knowledge of the content and processes of scientific research. However, the specific audiences, methods, and aims employed in the two fields have evolved quite differently and as a result, the two fields rarely share findings and theory. Despite this lack of crosstalk, one theoretical construct—framing—has shown substantial analytic power for researchers in both fields. Specifically, both fields have productively made use of the fact that when people approach situations or texts in the world, they do so with a sense of “what is going on here” that guides their actions and sense-making in that situation. In this article, we examine the dynamics of how interactions between scientists, reporters, members of the general public, and various texts give rise to in-the-moment frames that shape each actors interpretation of scientific research. In doing so we couple science communication literature's focus on framings within and across texts with science education's focus on dynamic framing in interactions. We present a case study that follows a single piece of scientific research from scientist to reporter to the general public. Through semi-structured clinical interviews, video-based observation, and qualitative content analysis, we demonstrate that changes in science knowledge as it moves along the pathways of science communication are the aggregate result of dynamic moment-to-moment framings dispersed over people and interactions. The complexity and nuance of the story presented here have implications for how each field—science communication and science education—conceptualizes the process by which the public comes to knowledge of science. Wiley 2015-01-24 Article PeerReviewed Davis, Pryce and Russ, Rosemary S. (2015) Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52 (2). pp. 221-252. ISSN 1098-2736 Framing; Informal learning; Interaction analysis; Popular science texts http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tea.21189/full doi:10.1002/tea.21189 doi:10.1002/tea.21189
spellingShingle Framing; Informal learning; Interaction analysis; Popular science texts
Davis, Pryce
Russ, Rosemary S.
Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions
title Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions
title_full Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions
title_fullStr Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions
title_full_unstemmed Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions
title_short Dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions
title_sort dynamic framing in the communication of scientific research: texts and interactions
topic Framing; Informal learning; Interaction analysis; Popular science texts
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46170/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46170/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46170/