Disseminating research findings to impact policy

1. Disseminating research findings to impact policy Jitendra Khanna Technical Editor The WHO Reproductive Health Library

2.  "Ta mard sukhan na gufta baashed      Aib-o-hunarish na hufta baashed"Sheikh Saadi (Till a man says something, both his strong and weak points remain hidden).

3. Objectives • Review some basic principles of communication and information dissemination • Explore channels of dissemination for peers and other stakeholders • Some exercises _____________________________________ • Based on • HRP communication workshops • Turning research into practice • Institute of Health Economics report (2008)

4. Global publication of scientific research From: New Scientist, 2008

5. Science in Iran • Iran increased its publication output nearly tenfold from 1996 to 2004 (Institute for Scientific Information) • Iran ranks 49th for citations, 42nd in paper output, and 135th for citations per paper • According to a British government study (2002), Iran ranked 30th in the world in terms of scientific impact. • In 2008, Iran ranked 32, 46 and 56 in Chemistry, Physics and Biology, respectively, in the world. • from Wikipedia, 2009

6. Generally speaking…. • Many problems – not as many sure solutions • May have solutions – but no direct power to implement • Knowledge – this today that tomorrow • Knowledgeismoney (and power) • The big gap – researchers and public • The many brokers – noise or clarity? • Power of science – or weaknesses? • Interests – supportive and vested • Others

7. Distribution of interventions in RHL

8. Research to policy: some basics questions • Whose idea was it anyway? • Was there interest in it before and during the conduct of research? • Does the research group have credibility? • Where were the results published? • Who is opposed to the idea? • Is there capacity to implement the intervention? • What are the risks in implementing it?

9. Information dissemination The circulation or wide dispersal of information. Medical.webends-com

10. What is communication? "Any act by which one person gives to, or receives from, another personinformation about that person's needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states. Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or nonlinguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes." National Joint Committee for the Communicative Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities, 1992

11. Key points about communication • Exchange – two-way • Information (but reflects knowledge) • Intentional or unintentional • Linguistic or nonlinguistic • Needs, wants, perceptions, knowledge

12. Everybody (everything) says something….

13. Information source Transmitter Receiver Destination Signal MessageMessage Noise source Shannon's model • Claude E. Shannon conceptualized the communication theory model in the late 1940s. • It remains central to communication study today.

14. Adapted model of communication Noise Noise Noise Noise Sender Encoding Decoding Receiver Signal Feedback Noise Noise

15. Quality of communication • Varies, depending on • Use of effective skills and strategies • Understanding of audience(s) • Use of correct channels • Skills can be learnt

16. Going from A to B… and back • Means of transport (information channel) • Timing (hook for the story) • Information about B (know the audience) • Culture • Likes / dislike • History • Risks (What can go wrong)

17. Putting communication into practice in research

18. Research Research is part of a process of knowledge production, management and use.

19. A research institution is a "knowledge" factory Output: information Input: information Knowledge Processing

20. The policy and execution grinding mill Analyses of threats and benefits Information Knowledge Policy and communication Impact Processing Testing Evaluation

21. Worlds apart • Since both research and policy-making are complex activities and very different from each other, mutual understanding requires concisions effort. • A generalization made based on research by Fox and Oxman (2001)

22. Finding common ground

23. Dealing with people • Do we really make, and use reason in, all our choices? • Philadelphia project • Cornell study (Schouffle 2004) • Video on choices

24. Funny, lucky, religious? A B C

25. Exercise 1 • Speaker • Interviewer • Observer

26. Interpersonal communication(person-to-person communication)

27. Five insights into effective interpersonal communication

28. Interpersonal communication Conflict occurs when communication fails

29. Insight No. 1 If people perceive an attack, they will defend themselves.

30. ATTACK DEFEND Vicious circle of attack and defence

31. Conflict Note: Communication seeks to better understand other viewpoints and not necessarily to agree with them. Although, if you keep an open mind, you may achieve agreement as well.

32. Insight No. 2 Listening is more than just waiting quietly for your turn to speak.

33. The "art" of listening • maintain an attitude of ‘inquiry’ and interest • gently probe to understand the other • draw out the other’s reasoning • ask for examples • check your understanding • listen with an open mind • refrain from preparing to destroy the other’s argument or promote your own agenda

34. Insight No. 3 To really understand someone else's viewpoint you have to be able to get out of your own logic and into theirs. ???

35. Understanding other people’s logic • Assume that people are rational • People behave "rationally" based on their internal logic: • how they see things • self-interest, which they are working to maximize • their important concerns

36. People • Other helpful assumptions • Other people are going to see things differently from you • You can understand those differences and their likely impact • The BLM syndrome

37. Logic of actions is based on personal factors Experience Culture Perception of events Self interests Mind-set Personality Professional values Reasoning Beliefs and assumptions The anatomy of action/communication Action taken Mindset

38. Action and communication Mindset: the invisible side of communication

39. InquiryOpen/closed questions • Open • don’t influence the answer (transmit interest) • seek information • Closed: • seek agreement/disagreement • don’t draw information

40. The ladder of inference “Our ability to achieve the results we truly desire is eroded by our thinking that: • our beliefs are the truth • the truth is obvious • our beliefs are based on real data • the data we select are the real data.” Senge et al. The fifth discipline fieldbook.

41. Insight No. 4 To influence someone you have to be able to speak their language.

42. Insight No. 5 Humility works!

43. In presenting your point of view: • state assumption • explain reasoning • explain context • give examples • invite testing of your assertions • reveal where you are least clear • avoid being defensive (allow yourself to be vulnerable)

44. The nature of knowledge and information…..

45. "REAL science depends on the dispassionate search for truth." • Robert K. Merton, Sociologist

46. "The wise see knowledge and action as one." -- the Bhagvad-Gita

47. Internal process Understanding Personal Longer-lasting Shapes behaviours “True, justified beliefs” “Sum of what is known” Words Data Non-personal Relates to media Computers/ technology “Facts provided” “What is conveyed…” Information vs knowledge

48. Communication is to information/knowledge as packaging and transportation are to goods • Knowledge is a product that needs to be managed

49. "Knowledge" management “We have managedmoney and buildings and people and energy. Now we need also tomanage the most precious commodity of the 21st century knowledgeand know how.” J A Muir Gray, Director, Research and Development. NHS Executive Anglia and Oxford, Oxford. BMJ, 26 September, 1998 (Volume 317)

50. Knowledge management is about using people as a resource • Information management is about using instruments, data, journals, media – what is exchanged between people