This action funds a pilot for the Research Communication Ethics Project (RCEP), a combined research/education project that will use survey data about the attitudes of scientists to develop a training curriculum for graduate students across the sciences regarding the ethical obligations of scientists in communicating with the general public.
Scientists have ethical obligations to communicate research conclusions to the lay public; however, these obligations have received relatively little attention in research ethics curricula, and the exceptions tend to focus on avoiding misunderstanding in communications between scientists and journalists. Effective communication requires that information be delivered in ways that are sensitive to prior misinformation believed by the audience, to unavoidable cognitive biases, and to audience perceptions of the character, competencies, and agendas of the scientist. Scientists may commonly make mistaken assumptions and, if so, those assumptions will compromise effective communication. Effective training in the ethics of communication with the non-scientific public therefore requires prior information. The RCEP will use survey data to answer these questions. This may form for basis for a training curriculum. RCEP will have broader impact by improving training in the ethical responsibilities governing communication with the non-scientific public in significant ways.
