Changing the Conversation Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
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. Polling data show that the public believes engineers are not as engaged with societal and community concerns as scientists or as likely to play a role in saving lives (Harris Interactive, 2004)
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Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, is to encourage coordinated, consistent, effective communication by the engineering community to a variety of audiences, including school children, their parents, teachers, and counselors, about the role, importance, and career potential of engineering.
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The quantitative research consisted of an online survey that oversampled for African Americans and Hispanics. The goal of the quantitative research was to shed light on the findings of the focus groups and provide a statistically sound foundation for the committee's recommendations.
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Most outreach initiatives target high school students with an eye toward "priming the engineering education pipeline." Less attention has been paid to elementary and middle school students, where efforts would serve a "mainline" function of promoting technological literacy and stimulating interest in mathematics and science. With the notable exception of National Engineers Week, most outreach programs have been local.
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Findings from the Qualitative Research Students in the focus groups and triads were asked to describe their images of engineers, their understanding of engineering, their reactions to examples of engineering, their views on current school subjects, and their hopes for future careers. Participants in the parent
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This theme underscores how engineering uniquely bridges the world of science with the real world. Life Takes Engineering.
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Findings from the Quantitative Research To test the results of qualitative research, the committee collected quantitative data from an online survey administered to nearly 3,600 individuals. The survey instrument comprised six questions about views of engineering and engineers and four questions about the proposed messages and taglines that had been refined to reflect the results of the focus groups and triads (Box ES-3)
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highest "very appealing" rating among all groups was "Engineers make a world of difference." This message was also considered the "most believable" and "most relevant." In general, however, girls were less enthusiastic than boys about all of the messages. "Engineers connect science to the real world" was given the fewest votes for "very appealing" among all groups and was the least "personally relevant" for all groups but African American adults.
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The tagline "Turning ideas into reality" tested well among all survey respondents. This straightforward tagline, which is consistent with the messages used to promote National Engineers Week, is more descriptive than evocative and conveys a direct message that does not require additional creative context.
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RECOMMENDATIONS The committee's first two recommendations address how the positioning statement and messages should be used. These recommendations are immediately actionable by organizations interested in improving public understanding of engineering.
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Using the Positioning Statement Recommendation 1. To present an effective case for the importance of engineering and the value of an engineering education, the engineering community should engage in coordinated, consistent, effective communication to "reposition" engineering. Specifically, the engineering community should adopt and actively promote the positioning statement (Box 4-1)
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Adopting Tested Messages Recommendation 2. The four messages that tested well in this p roject -- "Engineers make a world of difference," "Engineers are c reative problem solvers," "Engineers help shape the future," and "Engineering is essential to our health, happiness, and safety" -- should be adopted by the engineering community in ongoing and new public outreach initiatives.
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The taglines should be consistent with the positioning statement and messages developed through this project and should take into account differences among target populations. In the interest of encouraging coordination among outreach activities, the results of this research should be made widely available to the engineering community.
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The engineering community, particularly large, influential, technology-focused corporations, must be enlisted to support the campaign. Second, the committee believes that centralized planning will be necessary to ensure effective coordination and communication, which would require agreement by the major participants.
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The rigor of the study process should reassure the engineering community -- and others interested in this important topic -- that there is now a tested set of tools available to promote a more positive image of the field. The most significant outcome of this project is the recasting of engineering in the positioning statement.
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Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposi tion. Portland, Ore., June 12–15.
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