Census Mapping Tool, UT Libraries

This is a useful tool for analyzing and mapping census information, FYI.
I've linked the path below.

Libraries --->  Research Tools ---> Government Information --->  Census ---> Social Explorer

Preliminary Research Ideas

My research interests are focused on the communication of the natural sciences, environmental sciences, and technology to the public. 

I have composed the following list of questions to guide me in developing a formal research topic: What is the relationship between journalism and science? How can we marry the two to support the development of a scientifically literate public? What is the relationship between the tactics that media outlets employ in dispersing messages to the public and the way these ideas are accepted? What strategies can be used to offset the spread of socially unchallenged ideas to the public? How do people learn about climate change and other environmental issues? How does social media play a role in science communication? What kind of strategies are used within the world of science policy? How is science communicated by the left and the right wings of politics? What motivates people to give their attention to scientific matters?

My background research has provided me with several resources that have ignited some of these ideas.

Apart, W. (2008). Worlds Apart. New Perspectives Quarterly, 17(5), 64–65. doi:10.1111/0893-7850.00381

Nisbet, E. C., Hart, P. S., Myers, T., & Ellithorpe, M. (2013). Attitude Change in Competitive Framing Environments? Open-/Closed-Mindedness, Framing Effects, and Climate Change. Journal of Communication, 63(4), 766–785. doi:10.1111/jcom.12040

Carver, R. B., Rodland, E. a., & Breivik, J. (2012). Quantitative Frame Analysis of How the Gene Concept Is Presented in Tabloid and Elite Newspapers. Science Communication, 35(4), 449–475. doi:10.1177/1075547012460525

Macgilchrist, F., & Bohmig, I. (2012). Blogs, genes and immigration: Online media and minimal politics. Media, Culture & Society, 34(1), 83–100. doi:10.1177/0163443711427201

Kirzinger, A. E., Weber, C., & Johnson, M. (2012). Genetic and Environmental Influences on Media Use and Communication Behaviors. Human Communication Research, 38(2), 144–171. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2011.01424.x 

Zhao, X., Leiserowitz, A. a., Maibach, E. W., & Roser-Renouf, C. (2011). Attention to Science/Environment News Positively Predicts and Attention to Political News Negatively Predicts Global Warming Risk Perceptions and Policy Support. Journal of Communication, 61(4), 713–731. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01563.x  

Moser, S. C., & Dilling, L. (2009). COMMUNICATING CLIMATE CHANGE : CLOSING THE SCIENCE - ACTION GAP.

Best Friends Forever

Friendship - "Any relationship based on the concepts of mutual familiarity, trust, and appreciation."

How well do you feel you know this individual? (Scale from "Not at all" to "Completely")

How much do you trust this individual? (Scale from "Not at all" to "Completely")

How much do you appreciate this individual?  (Scale from "Not at all" to "Completely")

Lacking communication between researchers and the public in science

Based on my own observation, I see an obvious problem in the communication between scientists and the public. It appears to me that the groundbreaking research in the sciences aren't disseminated to the public very well.

Who are the stakeholders? Scientists are federally funded to conduct research that is geared at benefitting society. Tax dollars are put toward solving problems such as clean energy, longer lasting batteries, and vaccinations for the flu. That means that everyone has a stake in the research produced, and communicated, by scientists.

Why does communication fail? It seems to be the case that some scientists, specifically those who are not trained in communication, are not proficient in explaining their ideas to the public---at least not in terms that those without a science background can understand. Scientists have a tendency to use a lot of jargon. 

Jay L. Banner, Director of the Environmental Science Institute, communicated this idea in an interview I conducted with him last week.


“It’s so important for the public to be educated in the way science works, at the most fundamental level: the scientific method. So that when [people] vote, they can vote with a mind’s eye towards who is proposing sound solutions and who is not and they can go find for themselves what the best data are. As people become more and more science-literate, so-to-speak, that will start to solve a lot of society’s problems,” said Banner.

The question: How can we fix it?

Journals & Articles

Journal: New Media and Mass Communication
ISSN: 2224-3275
2012 - Current
Focuses on developments in media and mass communication research.
Submission Guidelines: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/ehost/external?sid=d5b7750d-71c8-4de0-8128-7ba6662564f1%40sessionmgr110&vid=2&hid=126

Article: Wiki-Leaks-An Enigma of Information Sensation Sans Accountability: A Case Study of India.

Link: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c3f81cf7-204f-4732-bc3e-76a58aa0f010%40sessionmgr104&vid=7&hid=126

Abstract: The world of academics and the media professionals looked at the WikiLeaks as a greater champion of freedom of expression (Sifry M 2011). No deeper academic study/discourse has emerged as yet on this positing. Questions arise whether mere reproduction of cables as 'free and transparent' flow of information will lead to any 'agenda setting' as do the conventional media within the meaning of media theories or will it only tend to herald an era of global disorder and chaos. Given the questions raised on the subjectivity involved in the drafting of these cables emanating from the US consulates across the globe, the present study shows howIndia had already overcome the crisis that WikiLeaks temporarily created in the subcontinent. The study, which has adapted content analysis of the WikiLeaks published in The Hindu, leading English news daily under a tie-up with the WikiLeaks since March 15, 2011 to April 30, 2011, revealed that WikiLeaks failed to generate any effect on Indian public represented by its political representatives in the Parliament, let alone an agenda setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural roots, the bias toward deduction

As a student of both the social sciences and the biological sciences I can appreciate the difference between the investigative practices of individual disciplines. I would agree that it makes little sense to assume that the power of hypothetico-deductivism is the only way of answering questions in the world; however, I don’t believe that physics envy is the proper term for what is happening in the social sciences regarding experimentation. At best, this definition reduces the complexities of the social sciences to a single explanation for popular methods of reasoning: academic inferiority complex. At worst, this article insults the social sciences by sketching them out to be envious of “real scientists”, going as far as copying the language and practices of the physical sciences. Instead, I acknowledge the bias toward the scientific method while I also believe that the social sciences are carving their own path in scientific reasoning. 

In exploring this issue, it is important to note the cultural weight of deduction, a standard by which many other sciences do in fact measure themselves. In a discussion of their book, A Model Discipline, Primo argues, “Too often we let statistical models tell us whether our theoretical models are worth anything(...)”. Examples of the superiority of the hypothesis-deduction model of reasoning are culturally evident in both the real world and in the fictional one. I would argue that the power of this model stems, not just from the world of academia, but also from a social standpoint. In the timeless books, and now television shows, about fictional character Sherlock Holmes, the power of deduction often trumps other methods of reasoning. In a modern medical rendition of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the television series House blurs the lines between deduction and non-traditional ways of answering scientific questions. It used to be the case that the only respected sciences were in biology, physics, chemistry and the like. Even today, there is a certain stigma placed upon those who earn master’s degrees and doctorate degrees in the hard sciences, while those in the social sciences are subject to scrutiny. While it is clear that there is a cultural weight places upon the practices of the hard sciences, the social sciences are starting to claim their grounds in the area of reasoning; it seems ill-informed to suggest otherwise.