Political Communication at Centre of Journalism
A max five pages (12,000 characters including spaces) long elaboration on how to address, in terms of research design and methods, the research questions outlined in the research program “The Perception and Communication of Risks of Pesticides and Biocides”.
Reference Professor PI David Hopmann’s research (professor at University of Southern Denmark) – also add his previous research in this research paper (if possible).
The project’s goals are a) delivering a detailed mapping of the scope and antecedents of (mis)perceptions about pesticides and biocides; and b) developing communication strategies on how to convey new information on the use and risks of pesticides so that negative consequences of possible misperceptions can be minimized.
Description of project
The Perception and Communication of Risks of Pesticides and Biocides
How should you communicate if you want people to know the risks associated with the use of pesticides and biocides; and also wish to make them adjust their behavior accordingly? This is the question we contribute to answer through this research project that uses a pallet of different methods. In the first part of the project, we examine, through focus group interviews, where ordinary Danes get information about pesticides and biocides, how they perceive pesticides and biocides, including the risks associated with them, and how their information sources relate to their perception of the risks associated with pesticides and biocides. People have very different habits in relation to how much and where they seek out information in an everyday life filled with countless information channels, and they are also affected differently by the information they meet. Therefore, their perception of pesticides and biocides and the risks connected to them is both a question about where they receive their information and how they relate to this information. The focus group interviews will show which information channels and which individual factors are significant to include in the next part of the project. Afterwards, a survey among a representative section of the Danish population will examine if the results from the focus groups apply to Danes in general.
When the project has secured knowledge about where Danes meet information about pesticides and biocides and how they relate to and interpret this information, the next step is to examine how to ensure a communication about pesticides and biocides which attracts people’s attention and reduces potential misconceptions, and which also changes people’s intention in the direction where they follow the instructions from the authorities. We examine this in a number of experiments. The first ones use so-called eye-trackers to examine which elements of the information attract attention, and which effect this information has on people. One of the shortcomings of social science experiments is often whether the results can be generalized to a broader population. Therefore, we will follow up by carrying out three experiments embedded in surveys among a representative section of Danes, which provides us with the possibility of examining whether the results apply to Danes in general. By including more Danes, we will also be able to examine how different target groups are affected differently by different types of information. Collectively, the project will ensure valuable information about how people get information about pesticides and biocides, and how to most effectively communicate about pesticides and biocides.
