Utilization of Science-based Information on Climate Change in Decision Making and the Public Policy Process, Phase II
Funder: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Agencies such as NOAA recognize the importance of bridging the gap between the producers and users of scientific information, and considerable effort has been made to try to encourage this. Research has already contributed to a shift in the way in which agencies engage stakeholders and transmit climate information they consider critical to decision making.
Phase II builds upon Phase I (see above). It is exploring several aspects of this vital link between science and decision making. Recommendations from this research will focus on improving information transmission and education on climate change and its probable consequences for human response and adaptation. This project is Phase Two. It will extend our inquiry into how these perceptions and means for transmission of scientific information affect, and are affected by, the various stakeholders and actors in the national public policy process. This examination will explain how scientific information on climate variability and climate change (CV/CC) is received, processed, and utilized by the major participants in the public policy process, including Congress, the Executive Branch, scientific advisory groups, as well as interest groups and the subset of climate scientists who have access to this level and participate in the policy debate. Along with this mix of national actors and policy participants, we will also include public opinions toward CV/CC science and technical information in the U.S. and from several other nations.
The broad research questions that will be addressed in this project are the following. 1) What role does scientific and technical information on climate variability and climate change (CV/CC) play in the national policy community organized to address decision making in this issue area? 2) How is CV/CC science and technical information utilized in the strategic definition of climate problems and solutions, and how does CV/CC science and technical information influence the key decision nodes (points of influence) in the climate-related policy process? 3) What role does CV/CC science and technical information play compared to the other systems of factors that contribute to specific policy preferences in this policy area?
Four research tasks are designed to accomplish these goals. Task 1 will be an identification and assessment of the climate variability and change (CV/CC) policy community. The policy network and flow of information will be mapped from existing websites. In addition, targeted interviews and evaluation of documents will also be done. Information from Task 1 will be used in the next two tasks to design surveys for a larger sample of policy community participants, including climate scientists who are members (Task 2) and the public (Task 3). Web and existing survey data will be examined for a sample of other countries. This extensive database on CC/CV information flow and its impact on decision making will be integrated and distilled for dissemination at a workshop for approximately 80 personnel from NOAA and other relevant agencies. Topics around which data will be integrated are the image and understanding of CV/CC among decision makers, the public, and members of the policy community; 2) factors that inhibit attention to and use of climate science among these groups; 3) description of the flow of information through the policy process and identification of important transmission streams and nodes of influence; and 4) recommendations for improving information flow, understanding, and use of science among all groups.
The research team is led by principal investigator and ISTPP director and professor in the Bush School, Dr. Arnold Vedlitz, and two co-principal investigators, Dr. Eric Lindquist (ISTPP associate research scientist/political science), and Dr. Letitia T. Alston (ISTPP associate director/sociology). Also on the project are Drs. B. Dan Wood, professor, Department of Political Science; Dr. Gerald R. North, Distinguished Professor and holder of the Harold J. Haynes Endowed Chair in Geosciences, Department of Atmospheric Sciences; and Sammy Zahran, ISTPP post-doctoral research scientist. Other research team members from the Institute include Meg Patterson Rogers, Nell Frazer Lindquist, Brenda Chaloupka, and Doris Newton.
