Discussion – Dissemination of Research Findings
Dissemination of research results may be done any number of ways, such as through journal article submissions, conference presentations, professional and community lectures, peer-review sessions, and several variations of formal and informal settings. Different audiences have different needs and expectations. A rule of thumb is to follow the guidelines for your particular format, whatever these guidelines may be. Every journal has specific instructions to authors. Every conference includes specific instructions on how to submit and how to present. Most groups sponsoring oral presentations will let you know their expectations if you ask.
What is less obvious sometimes is the “fit” between the material that you will present and the specific audience. For example, if you are conducting a presentation of survey findings for parents of elementary school children, your results need to be simple, clear, and free of unnecessary jargon. Conversely, at an academic conference, you may highlight and focus on the regression techniques employed. Ideal dissemination is correlated with knowledge of your audience.
You can ask yourself several questions that will help you choose a dissemination strategy. These questions include the following:
- Who is my audience?
- Who are the stakeholders?
- What is the general level of research methods understanding for 1 and 2?
- What should be presented?
- What should not be presented?
- What is the overall goal of the dissemination?
Considering the questions above, search for and select an empirical article from the Walden Library related to survey research to use for this Discussion. Consider the relationship between the survey findings and research problem in the article you selected. Think about how you would disseminate the results to two different audiences and how you might apply these results to a social change context.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 4 an explanation of how the research findings in the empirical article attached are related to the research problem and why this relationship is important. Using the same findings, explain how you would disseminate the results to two specific and different audiences. Justify the need for optimal dissemination strategies for different audiences. Finally, explain how the research findings might be applied to effect social change. Be specific, and provide examples.
