An example of a science communication evaluation study: Discovery07, a Dutch science party

This article presents an example of how a public science party was evaluated. The main goals of the science party, to increase the positive image of science and present an attractive science event, were evaluated in two ways. First, web surveys were used to determine the image of science before and after the event among paying visitors, invited guests, and a control group (N = 149). Second, during the event, visitors were interviewed about their experiences at the event (N = 124). The survey study showed that the image of science was very positive among all three groups of respondents. As no differences were found between pre- and post-tests, participation in the event did not lead to a more positive image of science. The results of the interviews suggested that visitors highly appreciated the event. In the Discussion, the evaluation study is analyzed and possibilities/limitations for future general use are discussed

Source confusion as an explanation of cultivation: A test of the mechanisms underlying confusion of fiction with reality on television

Cultivation studies have found evidence that heavy television viewers adopt a world view congruent with how the world is portrayed in fictional television programs. An explanation is that viewers may remember fictional TV stories as realistic stories or news (fiction-to-news confusion). Until now, fiction-to-news confusion was found only if at least a week evolved between watching TV and asking viewers what was remembered. The present study conducted with a purposive sample of students and employees of a college in The Netherlands (N = 96; M age = 28.6 yr., SD = 10.9) indicates that fiction-to-news confusions can also occur almost immediately after watching. In addition, whereas earlier research suggests that fiction-to-news confusions are associated with heavy viewing, i.e., more confusion when more hours per day are spent on TV viewing in leisure time, and faulty memory, the present study more specifically suggests that participants make many fiction-to-news confusions when they are exposed to relatively many fictional TV fragments that contain threatening, violent events. © Perceptual and Motor Skills 2007

Children's vocabulary acquisition in a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs at home

Item does not contain fulltextSubtitled television programs seem to provide a rich context for foreign language acquisition. Moreover, viewers are generally quite motivated to understand what is shown and said on television. The present study investigated whether children in Grades 4 and 6 (N = 246) learn English words through watching a television program with an English soundtrack and Dutch subtitles. Children were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (a) watching an English television program with Dutch subtitles, (b) watching the same English program without subtitles, and (c) watching a Dutch television program (control). The study was carried out using a 15-min documentary about grizzly bears. Vocabulary acquisition and recognition of English words were highest in the subtitled condition, indicating that Dutch elementary school children can incidentally acquire vocabulary in a foreign language through watching subtitled television programs