Prescriptive scientific narratives for communicating usable science

Abstract

In this paper I describe how a narrative approach to science communication may help audiences to more fully understand how science is relevant to their own lives and behaviors. The use of prescriptive scientific narrative can help to overcome challenges specific to scientific concepts, especially the need to reconsider long-held beliefs in the face of new empirical findings. Narrative can captivate the audience, driving anticipation for plot resolution, thus becoming a self-motivating vehicle for information delivery. This quality gives narrative considerable power to explain complex phenomena and causal processes, and to create and reinforce memory traces for better recall and application over time. Because of the inherent properties of narrative communication, their creators have a special responsibility to ensure even-handedness in selection and presentation of the scientific evidence. The recent transformation in communication and information technology has brought about new platforms for delivering content, particularly through interactivity, which can use structured self-tailoring to help individuals most efficiently get exactly the content that they need. As with all educational efforts, prescriptive scientific narratives must be evaluated systematically to determine whether they have the desired effects in improving understanding and changing behavior.

Keywords: adolescents; decision making; interactive video.

Fig. 1.

A synthesis of the literature suggests that prescriptive scientific narrative applies the components of narrative communications (boxes 1–3 on the far left) to improve understanding and behavior (bottom boxes) through multiple reinforcing pathways.

Fig. 2.

Example of nested menus, taken from Seventeen Days (68), with an initial menu (A) offering options to learn about general questions, and a submenu (B) offering more detail on the selected question for different infections.

Fig. 3.

Sample menu from Seventeen Days (68) of a character’s choice to go somewhere alone with a boy, presenting three options, two of which will exit the sexual script.

Fig. 4.

Students demonstrating the “Risk-O-Meter” to reinforce the concept of relative risk for sexual behaviors and mitigation strategies in Seventeen Days (68).