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Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments (2016)

Chapter: Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
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A
Data Collection Instruments

Most chemists or chemistry organizations doing communication events will need to borrow, adapt, or develop data collection instruments that best measure the intended outcomes of the communication. Two resources of instruments to support data collection in informal science communication are the following:

The ATIS collection includes science assessment instruments from a diverse array of sources, organized according to age range, question format, and domain (i.e., Competence and Reasoning, Engagement/Interest, Attitude/Behavior, Content/Knowledge, Career Knowledge/Acquisition). The collection includes the Chemistry Attitude and Experience Questionnaire (CAEQ; http://pearweb.org/atis/tools/35), which is designed for first-year college students but includes some items that are potentially adaptable for other ages and settings. An example is the following scales:

Please indicate what you think about the following:
Chemists

unfit

_ _ _ _ _ athletic

socially unaware

_ _ _ _ _ socially aware
Chemistry research

harms people

_ _ _ _ _ helps people

creates problems

_ _ _ _ _ solves problems
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
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Resources available from the NISE Net Team-Based Inquiry Guide website include instruments appropriate for a one-time museum visit or public event: a feedback survey, an observation form, a participant interview protocol, a question planning sheet, and a data reflection “cheat sheet.” The feedback survey, for example, includes the following instructions and items:

Help us improve the program you just saw!

Please take a few minutes to share your opinions below.

  1. What did you like most about this activity? Why is that?
  2. What are some ways this activity could be improved? Why is that?
  3. In your own words, what would you say this activity is about?

The following questionnaire provides another example of a simple instrument for gathering feedback from participants. It was developed by the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) for projects funded by the Ingenious grant program.

Activity questionnaire – public audiences

Please take a few moments to tell us what you thought of this activity. Your comments will help us plan future activities.

These questions are about the activity

Please tick the relevant box:

Overall, the activity was . . .

Very

Quite

A little

Not at all

Enjoyable images images images images
Interesting images images images images
Informative images images images images
Interactive images images images images
Well-organized images images images images
Please comment on the activity here:
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
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These questions are about the activity’s impact on you

Please tick the box that describes whether you agree or disagree with each statement.

For me, the impact of the activity was…

Agree

Neither

Disagree

Increased awareness of the nature of engineering images images images
Increased awareness of the impact of engineering on society images images images
I’m now more interested in engineering images images images
Please comment on these or any other impacts here:

These questions are about you

What is your gender? Male images Female images
What is your age? Under 16 (please state)…………………………………… 16-25 images 26-35 images 36-45 images 46-55 images 56-65 images over 65

Many other examples of instrumentation used by individual science communication projects, including chemistry projects, can be found at informalscience.org and at various project websites. Many communication providers adapt or develop tools to best match their own project goals and implementation features. For example, for a formative evaluation of Penn State’s Marcellus Matters: EASE (Engaging Adults in Science and Energy) project, the evaluation team prompted participants with a set of “reaction words” to solicit opinions about the eight weekly sessions, which were on various topics pertinent to shale gas drilling and related science concepts and community issues. These “reaction words” prompted participants to address, for each session, what they found notably important, confusing, unnecessary, interesting, boring, relevant, familiar, unfamiliar, oversimplified, and valuable.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
×
Page 141
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
×
Page 142
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
×
Page 143
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Data Collection Instruments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Effective Chemistry Communication in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21790.
×
Page 144
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Chemistry plays a critical role in daily life, impacting areas such as medicine and health, consumer products, energy production, the ecosystem, and many other areas. Communicating about chemistry in informal environments has the potential to raise public interest and understanding of chemistry around the world. However, the chemistry community lacks a cohesive, evidence-based guide for designing effective communication activities. This report is organized into two sections. Part A: The Evidence Base for Enhanced Communication summarizes evidence from communications, informal learning, and chemistry education on effective practices to communicate with and engage publics outside of the classroom; presents a framework for the design of chemistry communication activities; and identifies key areas for future research. Part B: Communicating Chemistry: A Framework for Sharing Science is a practical guide intended for any chemists to use in the design, implementation, and evaluation of their public communication efforts.

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