Communicating Research Results

There is no reason to do research if one's results will not be communicated to others. Interdisciplinary researchers will face particular challenges because they will generally wish to reach multiple audiences. They will thus need to

· Use language appropriate to each audience

· Relate their research outcomes to the concerns of each audience

· Be both clear and memorable. The latter generally requires recourse to metaphor, model, or narrative. Elucidation of a new policy, product, and/or research question is also useful. Providing real-world examples of at least the problem and ideally the solution can be very powerful. One should emphasize the surprising elements of one’s research.

· Recognize that communicating to the public may be important in encouraging policy-makers to act

Some of the challenges inherent in communicating across disciplinary boundaries were addressed in Interdisciplinary Communication, The challenges of communicating to policy-makers are addressed further in Interdisciplinary Public Policy Analysis

There are special challenges in Communicating to the Public

One outlet for interdisciplinary research is interdisciplinary journals. Gary Genosko, Transdisciplinarity and Journal Publishing, in Raphael Foshay, ed., Valences of interdisciplinarity: Theory, Practice, Pedagogy (Athabasca University Press, 2011), explores some of the challenges and emerging trends in interdisciplinary journals.