"I think it's up to the media to raise awareness." Quality expectations of media coverage on climate change from the audience’s perspective

This study aims to increase the understanding of how the media should report scientific issues by exploring audience’s expectations of how the media cover the contemporary, global issue of climate change. Drawing upon qualitative group discussions (n = 26) and on the theoretical perspective of Wolling’s Theory of Subjective Quality Assessments (TSQA), we provide insights into the relations between public views on climate change and the expectations and assessments of its media coverage. Stimuli material of climate change media coverage presenting uncertainty, a scientific claim, and emotional appeal was integrated. Overall, the relevance of the media for this public issue was emphasized. Despite diverging opinions on how the media should adopt its societal function, a more solution-oriented, detailed and diversified coverage was desired to provide guidance and to overcome topic fatigue. Differing quality dimensions regarding content and reporting style from the audience’s perspective were derived

‘Fake News’ in Science Communication: Emotions and Strategies of Coping with Dissonance Online

In view of events such as the public denial of climate change research by well-known politicians, the effects of postfactual disinformation and emotionalisation are discussed for science. Here, so-called ‘fake news’ are of focus. These are considered problematic, particularly in a high-choice media environment as users tend to show selective behaviour. Much research has demonstrated this selective exposure approach, which has roots in the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957). However, research on the processes of coping with dissonance is still considered sparse. In particular, communication scholars have overlooked emotional states and negotiations. This article analyses the affects that are aroused when users are confronted with opinion-challenging disinformation and how they (emotionally) cope by using different strategies for online information. For this, we used the context of climate change that is widely accepted in Germany. The innovative research design included pre- and post-survey research, stimulus exposure (denying ‘fake news’), observations, and retrospective interviews (n = 50). Through this, we find that perceptions and coping strategies vary individually and that overt behaviour, such as searching for counter-arguments, should be seen against the background of individual ideas and motivations, such as believing in an easy rejection of arguments. Confirming neuroscientific findings, participants felt relieved and satisfied once they were able to dissolve their dissonant state and negative arousal. Dissatisfaction and frustration were expressed if this had not been accomplished

Between Evidence and Emotions: Emotional Appeals in Science Communication

In the field of science communication, there is currently a great deal of discussion on how individuals can be reached, not only through fact-oriented communication, but also through emotional appeals and ‘edutainment’ approaches. This discussion has been further intensified by the changing conditions of new media environments. From an academic viewpoint, the discussion is often met with scepticism. However, categorical statements about a supposed dichotomy of emotion and rationality are misleading. What is needed are differentiated arguments and analyses. Nevertheless, emotions in science communication are an often overseen research field. With this thematic issue, we seek to enrich the scientific discourse by providing research from authors coming from different perspectives using different concepts, methods, and cases. In this editorial, we summarise the contribution of ten different articles on three levels: (1) emotions of science communicators, (2) emotional(ised) content, and (3) emotions of science communication audiences

Feldexperimente in der empirischen Sozialforschung: Probleme und Lösungen an einem Beispiel aus der Umfragemethodologie

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit den Herausforderungen eines Feldexperiments aus der Umfragemethodologie. Zielsetzung des experimentellen Designs war die Evaluierung von Methodeneffekten bei Web-Befragungen mittels eines empirischen Vergleichs alternativer Befragungsmethoden. Als Methodeneffekte werden Verzerrungen von Antworten und anderen Messergebnissen aufgrund der gewählten Befragungs- bzw. Messmethode bezeichnet. In der Regel handelt es sich dabei um vergleichsweise geringe Verzerrungen. Da Methodeneffekte aber methodenimmanent, also untrennbar mit einer Erhebungsmethode verbunden sind, werden sie vereinzelt als bedeutsamste Quelle von Messfehlern beschrieben. Während bezüglich der Web-Befragung häufig die mit der Auswahl dieser Befragungsmethode auftretenden Probleme der Stichprobenqualität und der erreichbaren Repräsentativität thematisiert wurden, standen die Messfehler, insbesondere die Methodeneffekte zunächst abseits des Fokus. Dieses Forschungsdesiderat war der Anlass für die Durchführung eines empirischen Methodenvergleichs, bei dem die Web-Befragung mit den telefonischen und postalischen Befragungsmethoden verglichen wurde. Dieser wurde als Feldexperiment mittels eines Test-Retest-Ansatzes realisiert. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden sowohl die Gründe für diese Entscheidung als auch die damit verbundenen Probleme sowie deren konkrete Lösungsmöglichkeiten dargestellt. (ICI2

Die Datengüte von Web-Befragungen: Einschränkungen durch Methoden-Effekte?

"In Studien konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass online befragte Personen größtenteils hemmungsloser und weniger sozial erwünscht antworten. Dabei kann es jedoch fraglich sein, ob diese Antworten tatsächlich ehrlicher sind, also dem Konstrukt des 'wahren Wertes' näher kommen, oder ob es sich hier um Artefakte handelt. Dahinter steht die Vermutung der Existenz eines 'virtuellen Verhaltens', das (zumindest teilweise) losgelöst vom 'realen Verhalten' zu betrachten wäre. Methodologisch bedeutsam ist, ob Personen innerhalb der 'virtuellen Welt' andere Positionen, Werte, Meinungen etc. vertreten als in der Realität. In einem solchen Falle wäre die Validität von online gewonnen Erhebungsdaten wesentlich beeinträchtigt." (Autorenreferat

Positive but not uncritical: Perceptions of science and technology amongst South African online users

Public perceptions of science and technology (S&T) have been measured globally since the 1970s. While there are initial findings for South Africans’ general and specific perceptions of S&T, we aimed to give an update on those perceptions, and account for the recent rise of digital media and broad public discussions on S&T-related issues (e.g. COVID-19) that might have affected public perceptions of S&T. We conducted an online survey with a sample of South African online users, quoted for sociodemographic characteristics, in November/December 2020 (n=1624). The findings show that, even with the rise of digital media and during the pandemic, a majority of respondents in this sample agreed that S&T holds promise, and they supported governmental funding of science. However, some reservations persisted. Gender and education did not affect these attitudes. It was rather age, location, degree of religiosity, interest, knowledge, use of sources of information, online engagement, and trust in science that were linked with these attitudes. In this sample, agreement to public funding of science correlated with beliefs in the promises associated with S&T as well as with having reservations about S&T. Significance: Our sample of South African online users agreed more to promises associated with S&T than they had reservations about S&T. Attitudes regarding S&T-related promises and reservations varied by age and location, and showed links with the interest in, knowledge about, use of sources of information on, and online engagement with S&T. Having reservations about S&T was nonetheless linked with support for governmental funding of science. The findings also indicate that social media were highly relevant sources of information about science for this sample of South African online users, who generally had high levels of interest in, knowledge about, and trust in science

“You Can Do Better Than That!”: Tweeting Scientists Addressing Politics on Climate Change and Covid-19

Climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic are global challenges in which scientists play a crucial role, and immediate political actions are necessary. However, in contrast to climate change, strong governmental actions have been taken during the pandemic. While climate change has been on the public agenda for several decades, the pandemic is a rather new issue. In such cases, social media offer scientists the potential to disseminate scientific results to the public and express calls to action and their personal views towards politics. Thus far, little is known about the extent to which scientists make use of this option. In this study, we investigated the similarities and differences between visible German climate experts and visible German Covid-19 experts regarding advocacy and assessments of policies and political actors on Twitter. We conducted a manual content analysis of tweets (N = 5,915) from 2021 of the most visible climate experts (N = 5) and the most visible Covid-19 experts (N = 5). The results show that climate experts addressed politics more often than Covid-19 experts in their tweets. The selected climate experts more often expressed negative evaluations, the degradation of competence and blaming. The Covid-19 experts, however, made more political calls for action. We assume that an issue’s history and context will affect scientists’ public assessments of politics. Our comparative study provides insight into the interrelations between science and politics in digital communication environments and elucidates visible scientists’ communication behaviours towards different socio-scientific issues

Die 'neueste Kommunikationswissenschaft': Gegenstandsdynamik und Methodeninnovation in Kommunikationsforschung und Medienanalyse

Die Einleitung zu dem Band 'Neue Komplexitäten für Kommunikationsforschung und Medienanalyse: Analytische Zugänge und empirische Studien' soll einerseits dazu dienen, aktuelle kommunikationswissenschaftliche Forschung herausfordernde Entwicklungen der Technisierung, Digitalisierung und Datafizierung zu überblicken. Andererseits werden darauf antwortende oder mittelbar verknüpfte Trends in der Methodenentwicklung zusammengefasst. Somit spiegelt die Einleitung die Argumentationsstruktur der im Band versammelten Beiträge wider, die analytisch die Veränderungen in den empirischen Bezugsrahmen und Materialien der Kommunikationswissenschaft aufarbeiten