The lure of rationality: Why does the deficit model persist in science communication?

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 400-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly J. Simis ◽  
Haley Madden ◽  
Michael A. Cacciatore ◽  
Sara K. Yeo
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Deficit Model

scholarly journals Sensational Science A Rhetorical Analysis of Public Science Education in Entertainment Programming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman J. Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Rhetorical Criticism ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Television Programs ◽  
Scientific Content ◽  
Entertainment Media ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Scientific Authority

Film and television media’s adherence to the deficit model has been under scrutiny by science communication scholars for decades. This model suggests that building public trust in scientific authority is as simple as ‘dispensing’ scientific facts to a “scientifically illiterate general public” through mass media (Kirby, 2003). However, despite a virtual scholarly consensus that the deficit model is deepening the public’s misunderstanding of science/scientists, it remains relevant as a method for building trust in scientific authority (Kirby; Vidal, 2018). Using Sonja K. Foss’s generic rhetorical criticism methodology melded with rhetorical film criticism, this MRP assesses the narrative structures, tropes, and stylistic motivations that sustain the deficit model in modern entertainment media. Focusing on didactic scenes, this research paper identifies the rhetorical strategies deployed by the respective directors of the following films and television programs: Interstellar (2014), Stranger Things (2016), Event Horizon (1997), and Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980). The programming that this research paper explores were selected to represent a small sample of both accurate and inaccurate portrayals of theoretical science and to discover if their organizing principles adhere to the deficit model. For science communication scholars this research will highlight effective methodologies of communicating scientific content in narrative formats and serve as an important step in untangling the mystery of the deficit model’s longevity in popular media.

scholarly journals Science, Values, and Science Communication: Competencies for Pushing Beyond the Deficit Model

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry Seethaler ◽  
John H. Evans ◽  
Cathy Gere ◽  
Ramya M. Rajagopalan
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Effective Communication ◽  
Transmission Model ◽  
Knowledge Transmission ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Communication Competencies

The deficit (knowledge transmission) model of science communication is widespread and resistant to change, highlighting the limited influence of science communication research on practice. We argue that scholar–practitioner partnerships are key to operationalizing science communication scholarship. To demonstrate, we present a transformative product of one such partnership: a set of ethics and values competencies to foster effective communication with diverse audiences about scientific research and its implications. The 10 competencies, focused on acknowledging values, understanding complexities of decision making, strategies to deal with uncertainty, and diversifying expertise and authority, provide a guiding framework for re-envisioning science communication professional development.

Muslim Perceptions of Biological Evolution: A Critical Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Research

2019 ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
Jessica Carlisle ◽  
Salman Hameed ◽  
Fern Elsdon-Baker
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Science In Society

The topic of Muslims’ attitudes towards the theory of biological evolution has received increasing attention at the margins of the fields of public understanding of society, science communication or education and science in society. The methodology and methods employed in this work are primarily informed by research on attitudes towards evolution in the ‘West’, particularly in the US where the issue is highly politicized. Small, interview based qualitative and larger, survey based quantitative studies have explored degrees of acceptance or rejection of non-human and human evolution in a number of Muslim majority and Muslim minority contexts. The underlying rationale for these studies is often underpinned by a ‘deficit model’ in which Islam, or being Muslim, is usually posited as a particular obstacle to public understanding and acceptance of theory of evolution. This chapter summarizes these studies, analyzes the particularities of how deficit model approaches might be implicitly informing their findings, and reflects on the lack of reflexivity in much public understanding of science research on Muslim contexts.

How Do Science Communication Practitioners View Scientists and Audiences in Relation to Public Engagement Activities? A Research Note Concerning the Marine Sciences in Portugal

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-166
Author(s):  
Bruno M. L. Pinto ◽  
José L. Costa ◽  
Henrique N. Cabral
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
National Level ◽  
Slight Improvement ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
Knowledge Deficit ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Training Opportunities

This exploratory study is focused on the perceptions of science communication practitioners about the activities of scientists and the audiences of the marine sciences outreach in Portugal. Using the qualitative method of thematic analysis and collecting data through semistructured interviews of 14 practitioners of diverse professions, backgrounds, ages, and stages of career, it was found that the role of marine scientists in this area is traditionally viewed as reduced, but with a slight improvement in the past 5 to 10 years. Despite having a historical connection with and curiosity about the sea, audiences were considered to have a mostly utilitarian interest in the marine sciences. Most practitioners had a view of science communication connected to the knowledge deficit model, with a minority articulating a more dialogical model. Although there are signs of conflict between science communicators and scientists, the proliferation of training opportunities in science communication at the national level, the perceived increase of interest and participation of marine scientists in public communication in the past years, and the consolidation of science communicators as part of the scientific community offer positive prospects for the future of outreach of marine sciences in Portugal.

scholarly journals Harnessing the Persuasive Power of Narrative: Science, Storytelling, and Movie Censorship, 1930–1968

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Persuasive Power ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Communication Approach

ArgumentAs the deficit model's failure leaves scientists searching for more effective communicative approaches, science communication scholars have begun promoting narrative as a potent persuasive tool. Narratives can help the public make choices by setting out a scientific issue's contexts, establishing the stakes involved, and offering potential solutions. However, employing narrative for persuasion risks embracing the same top-down communication approach underlying deficit model thinking. This essay explores the parallels between movie censorship and the current use of narrative to influence public opinion by examining how the Hays Office and the Catholic Legion of Decency responded to science in movies. I argue that deploying narratives solely as public relations exercises demonstrates the same mistrust of audiences that provided the foundation of movie censorship. But the history of movie censorship reveals the dangers of using narrative to remove the public's agency and to coerce them towards a preferred position rather than fostering their ability to come to their own conclusions.

scholarly journals Models in Science Communication Policy

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Hetland
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Communication Policy ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
Dialogue Model ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Hybrid Forums

<div>Three models of expert-public interaction in science and technology communication are central: the dissemination model (often called the deficit model), the dialogue model, and the participation model. These three models constitute a multi-model framework for studying science and technology communication and are often described along an evolutionary continuum, from dissemination to dialogue, and finally to participation. Underlying this description is an evaluation claiming that the two latter are “better” than the first. However, these three models can coexist as policy instruments, and do not exclude each other. Since 1975, concerns with public engagement over time have led to a mode that is more dialogical across the three models within science and technology communication policy in Norway. Through an active policy, sponsored hybrid forums that encourage participation have gradually been developed. In addition, social media increasingly allows for spontaneous public involvement in an increasing number of hybrid forums. Dialogue and participation thus have become crucial parts of science and technology communication and format public engagement and expertise.</div><div> </div>

Configuring Epistemic Authority: The Significance of Film Style in Documentaries about Science

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity Mellor
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Epistemic Authority ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Nature Of Time ◽  
The Many ◽  
Film Style ◽  
The Universe

ArgumentAmong the many limitations of the deficit model of science communication is its inability to account for the qualities of communication products that arise from creative decisions about form and style. This paper examines two documentaries about the nature of time – Patricio Guzmán's Nostalgia for the Light and the first episode of the BBC's Wonders of the Universe series – in order to consider how film style inflects science with different meanings. The analysis pays particular attention to the ways in which authority is assigned between film author, narrator, and depicted subjects and the degree to which different film styles promote epistemological certainty or hesitancy.

scholarly journals Introduction: From “The Popularization of Science through Film” to “The Public Understanding of Science”

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Vidal
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Popularization Of Science ◽  
History Of ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Relationship

Science in film, and usual equivalents such asscience on filmorscience on screen, refer to the cinematographic representation, staging, and enactment of actors, information, and processes involved in any aspect or dimension of science and its history. Of course, boundaries are blurry, and films shot as research tools or documentation also display science on screen. Nonetheless, they generally count asscientific film, andscience inandon filmorscreentend to designate productions whose purpose is entertainment and education. Moreover, these two purposes are often combined, and inherently concern empirical, methodological, and conceptual challenges associated withpopularization,science communication, and thepublic understanding of science. It is in these areas that the notion of thedeficit modelemerged to designate a point of view and a mode of understanding, as well as a set of practical and theoretical problems about the relationship between science and the public.

The Shifting Aesthetics of Expertise in the Sharing Economy of Scientific Medicine

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Ostherr
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Scientific Medicine ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Historical Transition ◽  
Film And Video ◽  
Human Research Subjects

ArgumentThe deficit model of science communication assumes that the creation and dissemination of knowledge is limited to researchers with formal credentials. Recent challenges to this model have emerged among “e-patients” who develop extensive online activist communities, demand access to their own health data, conduct crowd-sourced experiments, and “hack” health problems that traditional medical experts have failed to solve. This article explores the aesthetics of medical media that enact the transition from a deficit model to a patient-driven model of visual representation and health communication. I present a framework for understanding the role of film and video in patient movements by analyzing the historical transition from researchers filming patients as nameless, voiceless human research subjects to patients recording their own health narratives through activist cinematography. By comparing several approaches to patient-centered video, I argue that imperfect production aesthetics play a critically important role in establishing the credibility of health communications.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document