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Four dimensions capture the dynamics of science communication in Congress: issue politicisation, who bears the costs of information transfer, type of information use, and the characteristics of the communication itself
Source publication
Background
Elected members of the US Congress rely on staff, including fellows with scientific and engineering expertise, to find and interpret information for use in policymaking. Factors that impede, or facilitate, the communication of scientific information within the institution thus can play a critical role in legislative capacity, but there i...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... contended that two of the largest sources of variation in how science is used for policy are the dimensions of political polarisation, and science producer and user willingness to contribute time and resources to knowledge exchange. By overlaying Whiteman's typology with a similar figure that Contandriopoulos et al based on Weiss's research utilisation categories, in Figure 1 we illustrate how the science communication factors identified by Lemos et al (2012) relate to the conditions under which substantive and strategic use are most likely to occur in Congress. ...
Context 2
... dimensions of our model relate to the decision context: who bears the cost of information transfer, issue polarisation, and type of information use (Figure 1). The fourth dimension represents communication factors that lower barriers to use of the information, and hence increase its usability. ...
Context 3
... fourth dimension represents communication factors that lower barriers to use of the information, and hence increase its usability. In order to assess the model, we evaluate the frequency of information use among congressional staff and science and engineering fellows, and whether there are differences in the science communication needs of these decision makers in contexts of supporting or defending a previously established policy ('strategic' use), or substantiating a new policy decision ('substantive' use) (Whiteman, 1985) (Figure 1). ...
Context 4
... hypothesise that: 1) four decades after Whiteman conducted his foundational research in Congress, strategic use of science will remain more frequent than that of substantive use; 2) impediments in using science for policy will differ based on the type of use; and 3) communication factors can reduce barriers to knowledge transfer ( Figure 1). We also hypothesise that fellows, given their scientific fluency and expertise: 1) should experience fewer barriers to science use for policy than other staff; and 2) because their year-long presence arguably builds office resources and capacity for more in-depth issue exploration, they will engage in more substantive use. ...
Context 5
... response rate for the second sample is 9%, which is typical for congressional studies (Hertel-Fernandez et al, 2019). As Long et al note, surveys with this population are particularly difficult to conduct (Long et al, 2021). The same questions were also used in an online survey with Congressional Science & Engineering and Knauss fellows who participated in cohorts that completed their year in Congress between 2015 and 2019 (n=68, 4/2018-1/2019, response rate 29%). ...
Context 6
... have identified the need to increase the pay and retention of staff as a key component of modernising Congress to bring it into the information age ( Graves and Schuman, 2020;Select Committee on Modernization of Congress, 2022). Remembering that the structure of the institution throws a long shadow may help scientists, and science organisations, to focus on science communication not just as a problem of building interpersonal connections (Crowley et al, 2021), but reshaping the broader policymaking environment. ...
