Knowledge Mobilization: How Your Research Can Benefit Society

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Knowledge Mobilization How Your Research Can
Benefit Society
Presented by David Yetman, Manager, Knowledge
Mobilization, Harris Centre, Memorial
University PhD Candidate (Medicine), Memorial
University
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Outline

• Tutorial
• Welcome, Introductions (5 minutes)
• Participant Expectations (5 minutes)
• What are the structure of these tutorials? (3
  minutes)
• What is Knowledge? (5 minutes)
• What is Knowledge Mobilization? (10 minutes)
• Barriers to Knowledge Mobilization (10 minutes)
• Break (5 minutes)
• Communication and its ties to KMb (10 minutes)
• Issues with Translating Research (10 minutes)
• Research translation (10 minutes)
• Benefiting Society (How do You Know?) (7 minutes)
• Home Stretch
• Strategies for Mobilizing Knowledge (10 minutes)
• Tips to take home (5 minutes)

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A bit about the Harris Centre

• www.mun.ca/harriscentre

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Welcome - Introductions

• A bit about your instructor
• 4 years experience as KMb Manager
• PhD in public engagement/KMb
• Teach Knowledge Transfer with Lifelong Learning
• I grew up on an island (you?)
• Lets record everyones expectations for this
  session what do you want to achieve?

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What is the Tutorial Structure?

• 5 planned sessions
• Introduction to knowledge mobilization (first)
• Communicating your research (second)
• Communication in-depth (third)
• Research translation (fourth)
• Creating a knowledge mobilization plan (last)
• Planned over one year

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Defining knowledge is a bit like nailing jelly to
a wall.
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• What do you think knowledge is?

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What is Knowledge?

• Is information, ideas cognitively transformed
• Knowledge is a consequence of social interaction
• Some knowledge is certainothers not so.or is
  it?
• Knowledge is open to critique (Descartes
  skeptic)
• Knowledge is relative or absolute?
• Pythagoras knowledge starts with man one man
  truth
• Knowledge is sensory related or innate?
• Democritus true knowledge begins when sensation
  ends Plato and Socrates agreed
• Is knowledge handed to us by God? (Augustine)
• Heraclitus reason knowledge not passion
• Socrates knowledge ground not to be disputed
• Is justified true belief knowledge?
• Develops potential capacities by accumulating the
  experiences of the past generationsthen draws a
  conclusion to form a basis for action (e.g. The
  burner is hotdont touch the burnerwisdom)

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Question?

• What would happen if we had no language? No
  voice? No expression? What would we know? (Think
  of early Homo Sapienswhat did they know?)
• Noam Chomsky knowledge is limited (as is
  science) by our innate acquisition of language

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The Knowledge Argument

• Mary is a world renowned neurophysiologist. She
  lives in a black and white room and has for her
  entire life. She communicates to the outside
  world through a speaker phone and a black and
  white video monitor. Mary studies the
  neurophysiology of vision. More specifically how
  the brain interprets color and she knows
  everything there is to know about this
  (wavelength, temperature, refraction, and
  biological processing of color, etc.).
• The question does Mary know color?

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What is knowledge mobilization?

• Peter Levesque Never in human history have we
  hunted for so much data, information and
  knowledge. 
• Never in human history have we gathered so much
  that is useful but not used.
• Knowledge Mobilization is a complex and emergent
  process that focuses on making what we know ready
  for action to produce value.
• SSHRC (2008) moving knowledge into active
  service for the broadest possible common good
• Comes from the French mobilisation making
  ready for service or action.

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What is knowledge mobilization?

• Bennet (2008) Knowledge mobilization is the
  process of creating value or a value stream
  through the creation, assimilation, leveraging,
  sharing and application of focused knowledge to a
  bounded community, i.e., the effective creation,
  movement and tailoring of knowledge from its
  source (researcher or expert) to its application
  (practitioner, community leader, community) such
  that consequent actions are effective and
  beneficial and permit action learning.

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What is knowledge mobilization?

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vCYF11noqFfE
• (run 50 seconds to 320 seconds)
• Peter Levesque, Director, Knowledge Mobilization
  Works, Ottawa, Ontario

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Bennet, A. 2008. Knowledge Mobilization in the
Social Sciences and Humanities Moving from
Research to Action.
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Avoiding the terminology trap

• Meaningful words used in inconsistent ways become
  meaningless (eg. Sustainability, evidence-based)
• Eventually become urban-legends (we perceive them
  to exist)
• You will encounter jargon-like, popular phrases
• Diffusion
• Dissemination
• Knowledge management
• Knowledge transfer
• Knowledge transfer and exchange
• Knowledge interaction
• Knowledge sharing
• Knowledge mobilization (the Levesque umbrella)

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Problems with knowledge mobilization

• What counts as knowledge? (for us academic
  knowledge)
• Ethical issues in research translation and
  sharing
• E.g. Great Western Company Example Fenwick,
  2008
• Compromising the complex and integrated nuances
  of research sometimes the easiest messages to
  mobilize are not the important ones
• Separating the medium from the message
• What should we be mobilizing? Everything?
• Nutley (2008) claims it is unsuited for the task
  she calls it knowledge interaction (hubristic
  in its intention)
• In a broader way, should universities be spending
  their time mobilizing or discovering? What should
  the percentage be? (the single study and
  synthesis have merit, as do general bodies of
  knowledge)

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Challenging or supporting conceptualization of
evidence the value of knowledge mobilization
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Barriers to effective knowledge mobilization

• So..we assume that knowledge mobilization
  exists
• What now?
• Recognizing barriers facilitates better
  processes
• Individual and institutional barriers
• Next slides deal with each of these separately

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Barriers to effective knowledge mobilization

• Individual
• Cognitive capacity
• Learning style (genetics, signal, stimulus,
  chaining, verbal, multiple discrimination,
  concept, principle, problem solving)
• Cultural background (semiotics)
• Acceptance Motivation
• Interests (reward for acting)
• Previous exposure to information
• Power perception of range of influence
• Perception of self-intelligence
• Illusion of certainty
• Hubris

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Barriers to effective knowledge mobilization

• Organizational
• Timing and timelines
• Small p and big P politics
• Organizational culture (inside and outside
  university)
• Motivation of influencers
• High inter-worker intellectual competition
• Previous exposure to information
• Organizational power
• Poor research translation
• Poor understanding of mechanics
• Wrong research, wrong time
• Research refutes policy convention
• Research used as smoke and mirrors

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How do you think people communicate?
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KMb and Communication

• We are inundated with messages every day, in
  every way
• Soimagine taking complex research and getting
  the attention of a user?
• 70 of KMb is communications related
• KMb borrows heavily from communications theory
• Extract your key messages
• From that, chose the audience to be impacted
• Wisely select the appropriate target audiences
• Match appropriate communication tools to targets
• KISS sometimes easy methods are the best
  methods
• The medium is the message! (Marshall McLuhan)
• Refer to Fenwick, 2008
• Dont assume you know do research on your target
  audience (drivers, likes, dislikes, demographics,
  institutional embeddings, learning style as
  specific as you can get it)
• You cant mobilize knowledge without
  understanding communications!

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KMb and Communication

• Tips
• Source matters (some are more credible than
  others)
• Substance matters (Use research messages that are
  relevant to the target audience)
• Translation matters (see next series of slides)
• Format matters (what appeals to the learning
  style of the audience?)
• Timelines matter (no good to release information
  on the day of the Cameron Inquiry report)
• Overload matters too much information is easy to
  ignore
• May want to consider the SCAM approach Source,
  Channel, Audience, Message
• See handout (Linkage Plan)
• Christina Fabretto and Lynn Morrisey will have
  more in-depth discussion on these topics on the
  next seminars.

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Issues in translating research

• What are your concerns about translating your
  research for public use?
• Are there different issues to consider in the
  social sciences and humanities and the natural
  sciences?

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Issues in translating research

• Are you compromising your research?
• Are there limitations to academic language, are
  there synonyms to academic language?
• Are you compromising your research impact?
• How do you balance selecting key messages that
  are attractive to your audience, but not
  attractive hooks for media?
• How do you control media sound bites?
• Do we believe the science deficit model?
• More in later module..

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What does this image mean to you? What would it
mean to your audience?
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Keys in translating research

• YOU extract your key messageswhat do you want
  your target audience to hear? This should provide
  a value or value stream for you audiencenot just
  what you think is academically relevant!
• Decide on the desired impact for your research
• YOU chose the language to clearly articulate your
  research. Always aim for grade 8 level.some even
  use grade 6 level. Remember if your grandmother
  cant understand it you need to revise.BUT it
  depends on your audience!
• Use the services of a knowledge broker
• Work with the target audiences and bounce your
  messages off them
• Make your messages actionable, written
  specifically to audience
• Avoid jargon, cut wordiness, avoid acronyms, use
  active verbs, work with a lead paragraph

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Keys in translating research

• There is an old saying that journalists never
  let facts get in the way of a good story.
• The media likes positive, people narratives that
  appeal to current social or economic issues.
• The media likes to see examples of research
  improving peoples lives, or solving
  problems.more research is required wont cut
  it.
• Make it a narrativetell a storypeople relate to
  stories (personal, corporate and collegial
  stories)
• Mark Twain said that a lie can travel half-way
  around the world before the truth can even get
  its boots on.

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Making your ideas stick (I)

• The Kidney Heist Story
• The basic premise is that an innocent person
  falls in with a stranger at a bar, who ends up
  drugging him and stealing his kidney. The victim
  wakes up in a tub of ice in a hotel room with a
  note If you want to live call 911.
• Compared to
• The Not-for-Profit Sustainability Endemic Problem
• This highly competitive and complex environment
  requires that every not-for-profit organizations
  modus operandi be on improving their strategic
  operations in order to be sustained or in some
  cases survive as they complete for human capital,
  in the form of committed volunteers and
  highly-competent employees, and for financial
  resources, in the form of donations and other
  funding from individuals, foundations,
  corporations, and government.
• Do you have an urban legend? Why did it stick for
  you?

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Making your ideas stick (II)

• One more example
• Fat soaked popcorn
• A researcher found out that popcorn at movie
  theatres affected cholesterol levels. The Centre
  for Science and Public Interest (CSPI) didnt
  present a series of bar-graphs showing the
  relative fat content in popcorn compared to other
  fatty foods.
• They published a picture of fatty foods laid out
  on a table (bacon, Big-Macs, junk food, etc.)
  grouped togetherand compared this to popcorn,
  the second isolated group. The results were shown
  on CBS, NBC, CNN, and Letterman.

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How do you know it benefits?

• So..with all this work, how do you know its
  working?
• Key Factor 1 Make sure you have desired outcomes
  to impact society! They need to be SMART targets
• Key Factor 2 Build in a formative evaluation.
  Keep it simple. Plan to measure how your research
  impacts society. Tell a story. Develop a case
  study. Evaluate process and outcomes.
• Key Factor 3 Mid-term evaluation can allow you
  to modify your knowledge mobilization processes.
  

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Taking it home.

• Think about what you want your research to
  do.even before you start your research
• Develop a knowledge mobilization plan for your
  research (messages, desired impact, target
  audiences, communications tools, evaluation
  methods, timelines)
• Work with your targets to refine the KMb plan
• Its about evidence-informed not evidence-based
• What your fellow graduate students are doing
• Jessica Kukac Sustainability board game
• Deatra Walsh Rant and rural play
• Dance your PhD! http//www.youtube.com/watch?vB2u
  9eAzk7TU

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Tips.Daves Top Ten List

• Pick out your best ideassocial sciences is as
  interesting as any research
• YOU do the translation dont leave it in the
  hands of others (if you dont do it media
  will!)
• Dont ever compromise on your research integrity
• Use a knowledge broker (Harris Centre)
• Communicate effectively, appropriately and
  creatively (text messaging for seniors?)
• Think like your audience BUT be cautious.
• The medium is the messagedont get caught up in
  all the latest technology because its there
• Make your ideas stick! (concrete not ambiguous
  analogies think proverbs SUCCES)
• Tell a story.people, positive, making a
  difference
• Build a case.measure outputs or outcomes

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The Tree of Knowledge by Humberto R. Maturana

• What is the object of knowledge?" asks young
  Grasshopper. "There is no object of knowledge,"
  replies the old Shaman, "To know is to be able to
  operate adequately in an individual or
  cooperative situation." "So which is more
  important, to know or to do?" asks young
  Grasshopper. "All doing is knowing, and all
  knowing is doing," replies the Sage, and then
  continues, "Knowing is an effective action, that
  is, knowledge operate effectively in the domain
  of existence of all living creatures."
  (paraphrased from Maturana Varela, 1992).
• Lesson mobilizing knowledge is highly
  interactive, integrative, and situation
  dependent. The act of knowing is doing and the
  act of doing is knowing. We do not see that we
  do not see!

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Where to from here?

• 5 modules
• Next one Christina Fabretto Knowing your
  Audience
• Fall 2009 Lynn Morrissey Communication
  Approaches
• Fall 2009 Maintaining Integrity in Research
  Messaging (Instructor TBD)
• Spring 2009 Research translation Creating a
  Knowledge Mobilization Plan (David Yetman)

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• Have I met your expectations? A Quick Review
• Thank-you for your time and participation to
  find out more about the Harris Centre and its
  programs visit www.mun.ca/harriscentre

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Referencesuseful readings

• The Economics of Knowledge, D. Foray
• Using Evidence How Research can Inform Public
  Service, S. Nutley
• Epistemology An Anthology, Edited by Sosa Kim
• A History of Knowledge Past, Present and Future,
  C. Van Doren
• Made to Stick Why some ideas survive and others
  die, C D Heath
• The Tree of Knowledge, H. Maturana F. Varela
• The Passion of the Western Mind, R. Tarnas
• Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers, S.E.
  Frost, Jr.
• The Conditions of Learning, R. Gagne
• The Will to Meaning, V. Frankl
• Unfolding Meaning, D. Bohm
• Knowledge Mobilization in the Social Sciences and
  Humanities, A. Bennet and D. Bennet
• The Politics of Truth, M. Foucault
• Introducing Semiotics, P. Colby L. Jansz