Integrating Social and Behavioral Sciences Within the Weather Enterprise (2018) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5 Research Needs for Improving the Nation's Weather Readiness and Advancing Fundamental Social and Behavioral Science Knowledge
5 Research Needs for Improving the Nation's Weather Readiness and Advancing Fundamental Social and Behavioral Science Knowledge
Pages 95-108
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 95... ...
5.1 PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED RESEARCH NEEDS Many earlier reports have called for additional SBS-weather research. Our Committee devoted significant effort to reviewing a wide array of the previous documents and findings that discussed SBS research needs.
|
From page 96... ...
. Many of these assessments illustrate both the advances in understanding that have resulted from research to date and the critical knowledge gaps that remain (e.g., Bean et al., 2015, on effective warning lengths)
|
From page 97... ...
. 5.2 CRITICAL DEFINING FEATURES OF SBS RESEARCH IN THE WEATHER ENTERPRISE Given the wide array of disciplines and perspectives encompassed within the social and behavioral sciences, the range of SBS research approaches that can be applied to the weather enterprise is highly diverse.
|
From page 98... ...
For example, behavioral researchers may collect and study records or self-reports of people using weather apps on their smartphones, to understand use patterns. Evaluating research questions and testing hypotheses about such patterns is the most common approach to building a body of scientific knowledge.
|
From page 99... ...
Yet, as the body of comparable studies increases, systematic reviews and meta-analyses become possible, which cannot only help advance the goals of the weather enterprise, but can also contribute to the advancement of the social and behavioral sciences at large.
|
From page 100... ...
Actors also include, for example, atmospheric science researchers, NOAA or FHWA management, public- and private- ector s forecasters and broadcast meteorologists, a wide variety of public officials -- for example, emergency managers, mayors, snowplow operators, and school superntendents i (Donner, 2008; Sylves and Búzás, 2007) -- and private-sector businesses (e.g., Craft, 1999)
|
From page 101... ...
This section does not exhaustively address the range of options that SBS researchers employ, but it illustrates that SBS research encompasses a diverse toolbox of options, each with strengths and weaknesses. It is thus important to ensure that the right set of tools is used to address any given question, and to recognize that a wide variety of individual-, organizational-, and societal-level SBS research is potentially useful for the weather enterprise.
|
From page 102... ...
For instance, the related topics of "false alarms,""over-warning," and "warning complacency" might be reframed as questions about people's information access, interpretations, per ceptions, responses, and experiences; • Research that cuts across multiple events, populations, or time, in contrast to research that solves a very specific problem at hand; • Research that systematically employs in-depth, naturalistic, and engaged methods to investigate the lived weather experiences of people, comparison of cases, and identification of similarity and differences across and within populations; • Research that goes from "end-to-end," e.g., that studies operational infor mation that goes into and out of the forecast office; private businesses and media companies that access the information and transmit it to the public in 1 Following the National Science Foundation definitions: Basic research: systematic study directed toward fuller knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications toward processes or products in mind. Applied research: systematic study to gain knowledge or understanding necessary to determine the means by which a recognized and specific need may be met.
|
From page 103... ...
Research looking at the weather enterprise as a system is needed to gain insights into how system-wide changes in forecast production and operations affect the quality and value of weather information, and to guide new decisions about weather enterprise operations at the system level. Research on risk assessments and responses and factors influencing these processes is needed because the growing emphasis on impact-based warnings and decision support increases pressures to understand different types of vulnerability and risk and how they interact and vary.
|
From page 104... ...
How might this vary for different hazardous weather scenarios, in different places, and at different scales? Much remains to learn about team performance, organizational behavior, and focal activities in the weather enterprise, especially the activities and behaviors of fore casters and Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs)
|
From page 105... ...
Risk Assessments and Responses and Factors Influencing These Processes Research is needed to improve understanding of how people obtain hazardous weather information, including associated uncertainties; how they perceive their chances of being affected and harmed by a weather threat; their beliefs about their abilities to reduce those risks; their behavioral and emotional responses; and what factors influence all of those processes. Such research should address distinctions in the information needs across various populations, including the especially vulnerable (such as the poor, illiterate, innumerate, disabled, very young, aged, non-English speaking, tourists, or hospitalized)
|
From page 106... ...
As highlighted in the studies summarized in Section 5.1, specific issues needing further study include warning specificity, how communication technologies interact with message design, and how best to design impact-based warnings. Those designing and producing weather forecasts, warnings, and other decision support information need a better understanding of the perceptions and uses of uncertainty information by different types of audiences (such as state DOTs, drivers, public works directors, and vulnerable populations)
|
From page 107... ...
• How do false alarms and misses associated with high-impact weather events such as tornados affect people's perceptions and behaviors when hazardous weather threatens? • How are new communication and information technologies (including the proliferation of different sources, content, and channels of weather information, along with improvements in meteorological understanding and forecasting)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.