Processing of scientific information in online discourse

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Regina Jucks
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; Empirical Social Research ; Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2009 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 124335407

Scientific findings on the Internet are not only dealt with individually but also through communication with others. This project addresses these social exchanges and examines the role of online discourse on understanding and handling conflicting scientific findings. To elaborate on and question information are two features of discourse that have been found to impact the development of knowledge. Building on recent studies (Kuhn & Crowell, 2011), we planned two experiments to find out how this behavior can be supported in discourses on scientific information. Thus, for example, participants might be prompted to counter-argue the presented scientific information or to reflect upon the perspective of the other person. On a methodological level, the project will promote analysis methods for online discourse. The applied setting is teachers web search for scientific information. The search for information involves the use of science-related information from online journals and communication with another person (via online chat). The goal of the search is to give a information-based response to a parental request. Thus, in addition to the discourse data the developed knowledge and the answer given to the parental requests are included as a dependent measures.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1409: Science and the General Public: Understanding Fragile and Conflicting Evidence
• Participating Person: Dr. Elisabeth Paus