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What Are Your Goals?
Align your communication goals with your research plan.
- What are the problems, issues, or questions you are asking and addressing in your research?
- Why is that/are those problem(s) interesting and important? (i.e., So what?)
- How does your work connect with a broader disciplinary conversation about this topic/problem in your field, and what does your work add to that conversation?
- Think BIG! What impact(s) could your research have?
- Next, begin to think more granularly. Your research proposal likely includes short- or long-term outcomes that may aim to inform policy or test the understanding of a specific model or theory. These outcomes likely exist along a spectrum of engagement, from advancing ideas and informing audiences to influencing changes in behavior, and they can be a guide for designing your overall communication strategy.
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Identify concise and specific goals.
The goals you develop will guide your strategy for broader engagement, and therefore should be as specific as possible.
- If your research provides a significant step forward on an issue, it is likely to also be very technical. That means you need to work harder at communicating it clearly and unambiguously.
- For example, if your research is to better understand and inform decision makers about the ecological impacts of dams across North America, a complementary communication goal could be to meet in-person with policymakers in order to provide critical information revealed in your research process that formerly was not confirmed.
- Another research goal might be to change the business practices of a specific industry along a supply chain, and the communication goal might be to inform stakeholders at a specific company in the industry of how the practices are impacting them, the environment, and society.
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Use actionable science as a guide.
SESYNC encourages S-E research teams to integrate knowledge users, including practitioners and decision makers from outside academia, directly into the research process. Co-development of research questions and agenda can ensure your outcomes are actionable. Forging relationships with knowledge users is a critical strategy for actionable science; however, it may not be possible to integrate everyone. Your goals for actionable science can be a template as you design your communication products, preferably at the beginning of a synthesis process.
Goals of Actionable Science
- Inform decisions at the government, business, and household level.
- Improve the design or implementation of public policies.
- Influence public and/or private sector strategies, planning, and behaviors that affect the environment.
Watch this video from SESYNC to learn more about Actionable Science.
Continue onto the next step in the toolkit: Who Are Your Audiences?
SESYNC's Communications Toolkit:
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