By Steve Ginnis - Ipsos MORI

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Scene Setting: Discussing Science in a Digital Age
Steven Ginnis
Head of Digital Research, Social Research Institute 27/03/15

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The rise of mobile internet

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Use of social media continues to increase

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Q. From which one or two of these, if any, do you hear or read about new
scientific research findings most often?
Bases: 1,749 UK adults aged 16+; 510 16-24 year-olds
Are people talking about science online?
59% TV 14% radio15% online
newspapers/
news
websites
6% social
networks
23% print
newspapers
19% among 16-24 year-
olds
Of whom, 69% mention BBC
News

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ONLINE
TELEPHONE
FACE TO
FACE
POSTAL
QUALITATIVE
DEPTH
WORKSHOPS
FOCUS
GROUPS
MOBILE SOCIAL
LISTENING
DELIBERATIONETHNOGRAPHY
PAS 2014 employed a mix of quant and qual methodologies,
including some new innovations…
BIG DATA

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The project includeded 4 waves of social listening
• Ipsos MORI, on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills,
conducted a year long research exercise into how people talk about some key science
topics/stories online (the topics were chosen in conjunction with BIS).
• The Brandwatch social media platform was used to measure internet traffic volumes
on different subjects across a range of online sources, including Twitter, forums, blogs
and news.
• Some of the data was then analysed qualitatively, looking at who was talking and what
they were saying, and searching for themes, patterns and linkages
Meteor in
Russia
Horsemeat
GM food
Badger
cull
Fracking
Measles
outbreak
Climate
change
Animal
research
Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Oct Oct-Dec

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Social listening helped scope volume and language of discussion
on key science topics throughout the year…
0
500
1000
1500
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Horsemeat
Meteor
Measles
GM food
Fracking
Badger cull
Climate change
Animal research

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Map of how IPCC report from Sept 2013 was discussed online
But we have to be careful… identifying relevant discussion
can be difficult
Armed police officer
reinstated because
sex on duty is 'like a
tea break' - MIRROR
http://bit.ly/1eHvK6R
#ipcc

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Measuring sentiment can be tricky too
13
46
41
60
37
4
200 sample
Automated sentiment:
positive, neutral, negative
Same 200 sample
Manual coding: pro, anti,
neutral climate change
Oh god turned over to news night and
the looney greens banging on about
climate change ? Yup it's called
weather you @!*&s
RT @[name]: Way to go, elected officials!
#idiots House Votes To Deny Climate
Science And Ties Pentagonu2019s
Hands On Climate Change http://tu2026
RT @[name]: Climate change is clear and
present danger, says landmark US
reportnhttp://t.co/d4Qty8TaASn#climatechang
e #psaenvironment @RCu2026

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Evaluating the #BackClimateAction campaign taught us
some valuable lessons

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How should we interpret the metrics we’ve inherited from
Tech development?

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Time for a new approach?

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What is an ‘online community’?
Each online community is its very own dynamic, interactive ‘space’: the ‘home’ of a panel
of research participants. Bespoke communities of all sizes can be set up for specific
projects; they can be open, private, or both.
 Bespoke design.
 Members have their own profile, and
are invited to take part in regular
activities – such as surveys, forums
and live discussion groups.
 Activities can be filtered to selected
target groups of respondents, or
based on members’ responses to a
previous activity.
 All content is moderated by the core
research team but participants are able
to comment on each other.
 Panel management modules included
to track participation & synthesise
findings over multiple activities.

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How can we use online communities to broaden reach
and engagement?
Each environment is tailored to suit
individual projects:
• Should the community be open,
private, or both?
• A one-off event, or reoccurring?
Open forum
- Open engagement via a
weblink and email invite
- Open for a prolonged period
Closed forum
- Invitation only – via email
invite
- Open for a short one-off
period
Members’ Community
- Invitation only – via email
invite
- Permanently open (for a
fixed period or until further
notice)
Members’ Base
- Invitation only – via email
invite
- Open at intervals
throughout the life of the
panel

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Exploring science online – what did we learn from
PAS 2014?
1
What did we achieve?
• Insight in to the way people perceive science today, and how they
receive and share news about science.
• The results have been used to inform Government on the way in
which science should be communicated, and to aid the design of
the Public Attitudes to Science survey.
What did we do?
• A mixed method approach over three waves
• 2 ‘qualitative’ surveys (incorporating a high number of
open ended questions)
• 2 online discussion boards
• 4 online discussion groups
• Respondent blogs on a specific research task (sharing
news on science with a friend)
Over the course of a year, we had access to over 1,000
people through an online community

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So… how can digital methods improve
science dialogue?
Online
participation
continues to
grow and
can
snowball
Front
end tech
brings lots of
opportunity
for
deliberation
There are still people
who won’t be able to
take part – need to
assess how important
this is and how methods
can complement each
other.
Power to track
attitudes and
experiences
over time
Ability to
bring people
(& stakeholders)
together
A useful tool for
stakeholder
engagement in it’s
own right? Can also
foster discussion
between public,
experts and policy
makers
Back end tech
synthesises analysis
across activities at
both individual and
subgroup level; also
allows for coding of
data
The site can host
lots of project
specific materials;
host videos; foster
co-creation.
Very important for
framing discussion
on science.