NOAA SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL

1. NOAA SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL REPORT TO THE NOAA SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD 18 MARCH 2003

2. SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL Lee Anderson U. Delaware Richard Bishop U. Wisconsin Margaret Davidson NOAA NOS Susan Hanna Oregon State U. Mark Holliday NOAA NMFS Judith Kildow U. Southern California Diana Liverman U. Arizona Bonnie McCay Rutgers U. Edward Miles U. Washington Roger Pielke, Jr. U. Colorado Roger Pulwarty NOAA OAR OGP CDC

3. CHARGE TO THE REVIEW PANEL • Review types and level of social science research • Recommend short-term research agenda • Recommend long-term research agenda • Develop budget estimates

4. INFORMATION SOURCES • Presentations from Line Offices and Chief Economist • Data provided by Line Offices • Interviews with AAs and Chief Economist • Reports of NOAA and other agencies

5. REPORT STRUCTURE • Social science defined • Status of social science within NOAA • Example research questions • Budget recommendations • Appendices line office summaries AA interviews forms

6. SOCIAL SCIENCE DEFINED Social science is the process of describing, explaining and predicting human behavior and institutional structure in interaction with their environments.

7. GENERAL FINDINGS • NOAAs capacity to meet its mandates and mission is diminished by the under-representation and under-utilization of social science. • Assistant Administrators are responsive to discussing opportunities for an enhanced role for social science within their line offices.

8. SPECIFIC FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

9. SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERACY Finding: • Throughout NOAA there is a lack of formal understanding of social science and its potential contributions. • Identified need to understand: risk perception behavioral response effective communication non-market valuation interpretation of geographic information

10. SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERACY Recommendations: • Conduct a workshop to familiarize AAs and senior management with social science and to address its potential contribution to NOAA missions. • NOAA AAs and senior management establish goals and objectives for achieving social science literacy within NOAA.

11. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH Finding: Two general categories of social science research are critical to the accomplishment of NOAAs mission: programmatic and organizational.

12. PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH EXAMPLES 1. RESEARCH TO FACILITATE ROUTINE ACTIVITIES • Who uses the products of a line office? • How do people respond to information? • What is the best way to package and transmit information?

13. PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH EXAMPLES 2. RESEARCH TO SUPPORT REGULATION • What determines behavior of marine resource users? • How do people value marine and coastal resources? • What changes in behavior or institutions are required to improve the status of marine and coastal resources?

14. PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH EXAMPLES 3. BASELINE RESEARCH • What perceptions and beliefs influence response to weather warnings? • What cultural ties and traditions do communities associate with coastal resources? • How do people perceive the effects of climate change?

15. ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH EXAMPLES • How does line office organization affect program outcomes? • What factors determine program effectiveness? • What are the potential benefits and costs of cross-line collaborations?

16. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH Findings: • Social science research is small and unbalanced across disciplines. • Few targeted programs for social science research • Social science can enhance the process of prioritizing research and help connect the results of that research with its stakeholders.

17. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS • NESDIS: cost-benefit analyses; policy analysis; market assessment of predictive capabilities • NMFS: regulatory analyses; human behavior; community structure; institutional structure; economics of fisheries; culture of fisheries • NOS: perceptions, attitudes, behavior; cultural differences; surveys • NWS: improved communication of information; assessment of user needs • OAR: cost-benefit analysis of programs; use of climate information; perception of climate change

18. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH Recommendations: • Each line office and Headquarters should develop a social science research plan and a strategy to implement it. • Line offices should establish specific targets for social science research through reprogramming and new initiatives. • Sea Grant should accept a larger role in supporting social science research.

19. SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA Finding: The lack of appropriate data limits the contribution of social science to NOAA. • Insufficient time series data • Insufficient cataloging and archiving • Restrictions on collecting economic data

20. SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA Recommendations: • NOAA should inventory, document and archive its economic and other social science data. • NOAA Administrators should seek congressional support to rescind the prohibition on collecting economic data under the MSFCMA.

21. SOCIAL SCIENCE STAFFING Finding: NOAAs social science staffing is insufficient to meet the mission of each of the line offices. • Small numbers and fragmentation prevent critical mass • Too small to influence the long-term research agenda • Lack of established career path for social scientists

22. SOCIAL SCIENCE STAFFING Recommendations: Headquarters and Each Line Office should: • Evaluate the adequacy of social science staffing relative to its mission, as NMFS has done. • Jointly develop a plan to develop core social science capacity. • Investigate opportunities for improving planning, communication and networking among social scientists within and across line offices.

23. SENIOR REPRESENTATION Finding: • There is no functional representation of social science in the Directorates of HQ or the line offices in the form of a dedicated social science position. Recommendation: • NOAA should create a chief social scientist position in each line office with the explicit responsibility for developing, advocating and overseeing social science research that meets the needs of the line office.

24. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Findings: • AAs recognize the need to better define and understand their constituents and communicate with them. • NOAAs ability to understand and communicate with constituents is limited by a lack of expertise in social science survey methodology and perceived obstacles to conducting surveys.

25. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Recommendations • NOAA line offices should carefully evaluate their public outreach and education needs and identify existing programs (e.g. Sea Grant Extension) with potential for collaboration. • NOAA should organize a center of excellence in survey research to conduct constituent surveys.

26. STRATEGIC PLANNING Findings: • With the exception of NMFS, social science objectives represented in line office strategic plans do not track into a long-term research agenda influenced by the social sciences. • Although line office strategic plans contain economic and social elements, with the exception of OGP and NMFS there is almost no long-term strategic planning for social science at NOAA.

27. STRATEGIC PLANNING Recommendations: • Each line office should develop a social science research plan and ensure that it is integrated into the NOAA strategic plan. • In each line office, the new chief social scientist and the directorate should be responsible for incorporating explicit social science objectives and performance measures into their strategic plans and annual operating plans.

28. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION Finding: • The application of social science is a necessary component of outcome-based program effectiveness measurement and monitoring in the FY2003-FY2008 Strategic Plan. • Strategic Plan Goals: increase value of marine resources increase use and effectiveness of climate info increase benefits of warning services increase use of environmental information reduce negative impacts of port development

29. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION Recommendation: • Use social scientists to lead the development of performance metrics in evaluating outcome effectiveness.

30. BUDGETS Findings: • NOAA could over the next 5 years justify an increase of $100M over the current $3.3B budget to improve the competency and contribution of social science to achieving mission objectives. • To initiate this multiyear social science program expansion, NOAAs FY05 budget would need to include ≈ $21M investment in new social science data, staff and research.

31. BUDGETS Budget Recommendation: Social Science Capacity • For line offices that do not have a social science research plan: obtain core competency of senior social scientists to develop a social science plan. • For line offices that have already have a social science research plan: direct majority of 1st year funds to implementation of social science research plans (NMFS and OGP HD). • Use some funds to seed program development in other line offices.

32. BUDGETS Budget Recommendation: Center for Economic Valuation • Invest $2M in a virtual NOAA Center for Economic Valuation to coordinate research, data collection, surveys and models. • Organize through a partnership of NMFS, NOS, OAR and NWS.

33. BUDGETS Budget Recommendation: Center for Economic Valuation • Use the Center to evaluate the benefits and costs of alternative policy choices and examine the risks and impacts of these alternatives. • Manage the Center as a matrix program in conformity with recent trends in NOAA organizational structure.

34. BUDGETS Budget Recommendation: Performance Measurement Recognizing the new NOAA Strategic Plan’s focus on accountability and performance management: • Invest $2M in strengthening NOAAs ability to measure economic and social benefits and costs associated with program implementation and performance.

35. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Panel thanks the AAs, line office staffs and the NOAA Chief Economist for their helpful provision of information. The Panel thanks Sean Conley for excellent staffing.

36. NOAA SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL REPORT TO THE NOAA SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD 18 MARCH 2003