Getting Below the Surface: Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and the Public’s Public’s Understanding of Marine Conservation in the UK

I missed this in 2017 but it looks very interesting and helpful for anyone wanting to communicate marine beyond specialist audiences.

Author: The FrameWorks Institute 2017

The UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation commissioned American non-profit organisation the FrameWorks Institute to map the gaps between the expert and public understandings of marine conservation issues.

This report also gave a series of metaphors or frames to help the public understand key issues.

Communicating about the ocean and marine conservation in ways that increase public knowledge and drive support requires understanding how the public thinks about the ocean. This report analyses public understandings of the ocean and compares these patterns of thinking to the views of those who study and work on these issues. Understanding how experts and the public think about marine issues – and identifying the gaps between them – helps us predict how the public will respond to communications. A detailed view of public understanding also shows how we can begin to reposition – or reframe – messages to move the public conversation forward and create a context of opinion in which meaningful policy change is possible. In contrast to public opinion work, which documents what people say (for example, in response to polls), the analysis presented here goes deeper to document how people think. We identify the assumptions and thought processes that inform what people say and structure their judgements and opinions. We look at how shared culture shapes shared patterns of thinking. This cultural-cognitive approach makes it possible to develop communications strategies that alter people’s perspectives in fundamental ways. By understanding how people are able to think and reason about an issue, advocates, experts and communications professionals can craft messages that avoid unproductive understandings and elevate new ways of thinking that better align with policy and social change goals.

Click here to read the report