Communicating Science and Technology in Society by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030528850
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Methodology

This chapter seeks to answer questions such as: Are all types of scientific associations really participating in these efforts to bring science closer to the citizens? Why are they doing it and to what extent is this relevant to their members? How important are such organizations in this field? Are they all using the same approach to public?

The results stem mostly from a broader research project on Portuguese scientific associations (Delicado et al. 2014).1 The first stage of the current study comprised a census of scientific associations in the country. The difficulty of defining such civil society organizations is well known (Hopkins 2011; Korkeamäki et al. 2019). A broad definition of scientific associations was devised, including all types of non-governmental, non-profit organizations that met one or more of the following criteria: calls itself a scientific association or society; has scientific aims in its mission statement; carries out science related activities (e.g. research, funding, communicating, disseminating, regulating science, or representing scientists’ interests). Using a variety of sources, a total of 363 scientific associations were identified.

A set of quantitative and qualitative methodologies were then applied in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the current roles of these organizations: an online questionnaire survey of the Portuguese scientific associations (response rate 32%); an in-depth study of 24 associations, including interviews, document analysis, a questionnaire survey directed to association members, and ethnographic observation at events; a debate on preliminary results with associations’ representatives; and an online questionnaire survey of a sample of researchers working in Portugal regarding their association affiliations and practices.

Based on the data collected through this research, a typology of scientific associations was created according to their different purposes. This typology has three “ideal types” (whose boundaries are, nonetheless, fairly flexible):Disciplinary scientific societies, representing 73% of the Portuguese scientific associations. These are focused mainly on the promotion of a scientific discipline and tend to assume communication among peers as their major purpose. Examples of this type of association are the Portuguese Chemistry Society and the Portuguese Sociological Society (some of the activities of the latter are described in this volume, see Ana Delicado’s Chap. 7).

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