How to STIR Public Values for Policy Making: Web-based Dissemination of Two SciSIP Projects

Program Areas – Responsible Innovation, Science and Technology Policy

Project Period: 2010-2011

Project Leaders:

Overview
Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project produced three informative and engaging web-based videos that will present models and techniques developed in two complementary NSF-funded, Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) projects – Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR) and Public Value Mapping: Developing a Non-Economic Model of the Social Value of Science and Innovation Policy (PVM). Both projects have developed and tested practical tools for helping decision makers (ranging from agency program managers and Congressional staffers to university research administrators and even scientists) identify and respond to broader contextual factors that are latent in science and innovation decision making processes. Additionally, although they involve different approaches, both projects are motivated by similar research questions revolving around the social contexts within which research planning, research conduct and research assessment decisions are made. Furthermore, the projects tend to focus on complementary stages and aspects of the SIP process: PVM on research planning and long-term assessment, STIR on research conduct and short-term evaluation. Thus, they reinforce each other both theoretically and practically.

This project developed three short, informative modules – each one made up of lecture presentations, practitioner (stakeholder) interviews, and illustrative skits/animations – available for repeated, on demand viewing, either individually or as a whole, through CSPO’s website. Of interest to a variety of scientists, scholars and analysts, these web-based videos will be tailored especially for research administrators in government and academia who are interested in learning from and utilizing our approaches to understanding and enhancing the social value of research projects and programs. They are meant to be practical guides to understanding why, when, and how to adopt our methods.

New Tools for Science Policy Videos:

Meet the Project Team

Principal Investigators

Additional Team Members