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Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Introduction and purpose of the study
If one does understand Public Relations in science as the strategic function responsible for managing the trust portfolio of the scientific endeavour (Borchelt & Nielsen, 2014), it seems only natural that engagement with science should be at the forefront of scientific and technological organisations communication strategies. Aiming to be more a conceptual article than an empirical one, the work to be presented started however from a reflexion upon a quite precise organization and the challenges it faces in order to build and rebuild, not only its reputation, but also the reputation of the scientific endeavour.
Literature review
Trust in science seems to have been quivered in the recent years as we observe growing beliefs in affirmations that are contrary to scientific consensus and fuelled by phenomena such as fake newsor post-truth. This growth in scepticism towards science should be a concern for scientific and technological organisations not only from a standpoint of survival – because support to and trust in their scientific developments ultimately allows them to keep carrying their activities – but perhaps more importantly, trust in their activity will have effects in the levels of engagement in society with scientifically supported knowledge.
Considering the innate uncertainty of science, questions such as transparency or consensus (cf. Osman, Heath & Löfsted, 2017, Chinn, Lane & Hart, 2018) are not without importance to the development of communication strategies that aim to increase engagement with science. If the evolution of science and technology is the main goal of scientific and technological organizations it is expected that they take part in the public debates those raise. It is in the public space of these debates that science communication must strive to inform the decision making process by establishing relations based on trust - from trustworthy organizations - that can help raise the understanding of the scientific uncertainty and controversies that sometimes it raises (Fischhoff, 2013).
Methodology
From a methodological point of view and all along an extensive literature review an exploratory case study was constructed (Yin, 2003). If the purpose of a case study is to allow a description of the phenomena in their context in this special case, an exploratory one, it was meant precisely to help the researchers to understand the better way to develop a further examination, both at a theoretical, as well as at an empirical level, of the connections between the concept or trust, trust in science together with trust in scientific and technological institutions, and the communication strategies of those institutions. Case Studies are increasingly a method used in research processes where a biunivocal relationship is sought between practice and theory, and especially in the area of Public Relations (Corporate Communications). Its usefulness has been defended both as an instrument for reflection within organizations and as material for analysis in academia (Eiró-Gomes and Duarte, 2008). Interviews were promoted with different key actors and met all requirements both from the point of view of ethical issues (eg. issues of informed consent) and from the point of view of research validity (triangulation). The interviews were recorded and transcribed in full. It is intended with transcription (unlike for example what would be expected if the option were the one of the paraphrase or the summary) to preserve the sense of the speaker, that is to say, the transcription allows not to make interpretations previous to the analysis, thus maintaining a greater proximity to the original data. Beyond the interviews data were collected through documentary analysis of available material on the internet as well as public records from the institution. Afterwards authors proceeded to a qualitative content analysis (Berger, 2014).
Results and conclusions
Trust is an attitude that we have towards people to whom we hope will be trustworthy, where trustworthiness is a property, not an attitude. Trust and trustworthiness are therefore distinct although, ideally, those whom we trust will be trustworthy, and those who are trustworthy will be trusted. It is in this relation that we claim for scientific and technological organizations the responsibility of striving towards higher levels of support and engagement with science.
Practical and social implications
With the work developed here we hope to contribute to a broader reflexion on the role of science communication in scientific and technological organizations and to the widespread support of a strategic assumption of communication in these organizations.
Description
Realizado com o apoio do Programa de Estímulo à Internacionalização do Corpo Docente da ESCS 2019
Keywords
Strategic communication Science Trust
Citation
Eiró-Gomes, M., & Moreira, V. (2019, jul, 04-06). In science we trust? Reputation as leverage to engagement with science. Comunicação apresentada na BledCom 2019: Trust and Reputation / 26th International Public Relations Research Symposium, Rikli Balance Hotel, Lake Bled, Slovenia