I've been working in the lab a lot lately, which means I've been listening to the radio for hours on end. With all the financial craziness happening, NPR has been pretty enthralling. One of my favorite NPR reporters*, Adam Davidson, the global business guy, has had quite a lot of air time. Yesterday he was on Talk of the Nation, a show that takes listener call-in questions after the initial discussion of an issue. I could totally understand what it was like to be Adam Davidson for part of that hour.
Listeners called in with all manner of slightly strange questions -- nothing dramatically off topic, but stuff that Davidson really wasn't expecting and didn't quite relate to what he had been explaining. He handled it all pretty gracefully, but clearly didn't know what to say to a few people. I have often felt this way when explaining my research to lay people who ask bizarre questions. They obviously have heard of what I do, but don't really understand it and reach back into some bygone science class or they throw out a keyword they read in the newspaper that's not really related. These questions can be difficult to answer because they're just so different from how I think about things but I want to formulate an informative and respective answer because I'm so happy that the person is interested. I have one committee member whose interests are pretty far from mine and he always throws me for a loop with some question that doesn't quite make sense to me. Of course he's the one who doesn't let up, either. It always takes effort to maintain composure at committee meetings with this person.
*I think have a crush on this guy. His reporting is awesome!
5 comments:
In grad school, I worked on a project that just about anyone on earth could have related to. I had no problem explaining, because the scope of my research was simple (I would leave out the details), and I rarely got strange questions.
Now, even I don't understand what I'm researching. Explain to interest parties has become quite the challenge, and they either ask totally bizarre questions, or just become exasperated and change the topic.
I feel ya.
We have quite a few of those tangentially related but nonetheless relentless types in my department as well. They can be such a pain.
I can explain my research pretty easily, but have a harder time with why it is important. Most people don't understand the bigger picture, or even actively fight it.
There was a good article on Science Careers this week about dealing with media. It dealt with very similar issues, just a larger scale.
It's hard when we have so little fundamental scientific literacy in the general public - I can explain my thesis research in in 6 words (I just counted), but when people ask questions, it's clear they're missing the basics about how stuff actually works.
When I was just getting started in the business (of mineral exploration), I had a hard time talking about what I did and felt uncomfortable being asked questions. There is a lot of confidentiality with the business, but I felt unsure of even describing what a geologist does. And, indeed, one can get some strange questions!
I have one friend who asks me questions about all areas of science, and I understand what he's saying about 14% of the time. He just thinks about things in ways that are totally different to any thought processes you might come across in scientific circles.
I was worried that my training had closed off parts of my mind, but apparently no-one else understands what the hell he's talking about either.
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