Scott Taylor, Pugel Jessica, Fernandes Mary, Cruz Katherine, Long Elizabeth C, Giray Cagla, Storace Rachel, Crowley D Max
Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Georgia State University, USA.
Evid Policy. 2023 May;19(2):178-195. doi: 10.1332/174426421x16535828173307. Epub 2022 Jun 27.
It is widely recognised that policymakers use research deemed relevant, yet little is understood about ways to enhance perceived relevance of research evidence. Observing policymakers' access of research online provides a pragmatic way to investigate predictors of relevance.
This study investigates a range of relevance indicators including committee assignments, public statements, issue prevalence, or the policymaker's name or district.
In a series of four rapid-cycle randomised control trials (RCTs), the present work systematically explores science communication strategies by studying indicators of perceived relevance. State legislators, state staffers, and federal staffers were emailed fact sheets on issues of COVID (Trial 1, N = 3403), exploitation (Trial 2, N = 6846), police violence (Trial 3, N = 3488), and domestic violence (Trial 4, N = 3888).
Across these trials, personalising the subject line to the legislator's name or district and targeting recipients based on committee assignment consistently improved engagement. Mentions of subject matter in public statements was inconsistently associated, and state-level prevalence of the issue was largely not associated with email engagement behaviour.
Together, these results indicate a benefit of targeting legislators based on committee assignments and of personalising the subject line with legislator information. This work further operationalises practical indicators of personal relevance and demonstrates a novel method of how to test science communication strategies among policymakers. Building enduring capacity for testing science communication will improve tactics to cut through the noise during times of political crisis.
人们普遍认识到政策制定者会使用他们认为相关的研究，但对于如何提高研究证据的感知相关性却知之甚少。观察政策制定者在线获取研究的情况为调查相关性的预测因素提供了一种实用的方法。
本研究调查了一系列相关性指标，包括委员会任务分配、公开声明、问题普遍性，或政策制定者的姓名或所在地区。
在一系列四项快速循环随机对照试验（RCT）中，本研究通过研究感知相关性指标系统地探索科学传播策略。向州立法者、州工作人员和联邦工作人员发送了关于新冠疫情（试验1，N = 3403）、剥削（试验2，N = 6846）、警察暴力（试验3，N = 3488）和家庭暴力（试验4，N = 3888）等问题的情况说明书。
在这些试验中，将主题行个性化为立法者的姓名或所在地区，并根据委员会任务分配来确定收件人，始终能提高参与度。公开声明中对主题事项的提及与参与度的关联并不一致，而且该问题在州一级的普遍性在很大程度上与电子邮件参与行为无关。
这些结果共同表明，根据委员会任务分配来针对立法者以及用立法者信息使主题行个性化是有好处的。这项工作进一步将个人相关性的实用指标付诸实践，并展示了一种在政策制定者中测试科学传播策略的新方法。建立持久的科学传播测试能力将改进在政治危机时期突破干扰的策略。
