{"id":111492,"date":"2020-05-14T12:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T17:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/decoded\/\/\/communicating-technical-content\/"},"modified":"2024-04-17T05:13:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T09:13:42","slug":"communicating-technical-content","status":"publish","type":"decoded","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/decoded\/2020\/05\/14\/communicating-technical-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Communicating technical content"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Informing the public is at the heart of our mission<\/a> at Pew Research Center. Everything we publish, even complex subject matter, should be accessible to a general audience. My colleagues and I on the Center\u2019s communications team work closely with our research and editorial counterparts to ensure that reports, blog posts and other analyses stay true to the data while also making sense to readers who may not be well-versed in research specifics.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some tips we\u2019ve learned about how to communicate technical content to a wide audience:<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid jargon whenever possible. Define any technical terms that are used.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Avoiding jargon is always a good idea. <\/strong>But sometimes using technical terms is unavoidable. If readers need to know a new phrase or two to understand our research, we often define the term in the text itself.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a recent example from a blog post about energy usage<\/a> in the United States, in which we tried to explain the meaning of \u201cBritish thermal unit\u201d in way that was easily understandable.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If there are many<\/em> words or phrases like this, we sometimes include a glossary of key terms. Here\u2019s an example<\/a> from a study examining partisanship in press releases and Facebook posts<\/a> issued by members of the 114th Congress. In this case, the terms in question are the definitions we used for lawmakers\u2019 statements:<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Words aren\u2019t the only way to describe a complicated concept. We often use visuals like infographics or videos, too. <\/strong>For example, to understand a 2017 study<\/a> on how Americans encounter, recall and act upon digital news, readers needed to know how we defined specific measures like \u201cpathway,\u201d \u201cnews instance,\u201d \u201cmain news topic\u201d and \u201caction.\u201d To explain these concepts (and to illustrate how exactly we implemented this complex survey), we created an infographic that walks readers through the terms and how they relate to each other, as well as the specific questions asked:<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Similarly, our Methods 101 video series<\/a> takes technical terms \u2014 like \u201cmode effects<\/a>\u201d or \u201cnonprobability surveys<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and boils them down into simple, easy-to-follow narratives:<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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