ATS3222 Chap.11 Communicating Research to Non-Expert Audiences
Communicating Research to Non-Expert Audiences
The final module of the unit is about communicating research to different audiences.
The Week 10 book focuses on non-expert audiences, and the class questions ask why that communication matters and where it applies, whether it is only about career advancement or about the purpose of research, and how your research could be described visually, through metaphor or through anecdote.
The workshop slides cover research accessibility, key strategies, and the use of metaphors or analogies to explain research relatably.
Before an individual activity, the class watches two Three Minute Thesis presentations. This chapter links the week to the unit's learning outcome on making research understandable to other disciplines and to people outside academia.
It sets out four habits of accessible writing and works an example that explains triangulation to a non-expert panel with a navigation analogy.
Practice tasks translate a jargon-heavy sentence about housing precarity and argue that communication is part of the purpose of research.
The chapter also notes that the Week 10 overview mentions communication with other experts, while the teaching materials address non-experts.
Communication is assessed directly in A3, where a fifth of the rubric concerns written communication, expression and referencing, and indirectly everywhere else, since a clear proposal makes every other criterion easier to award.
The chapter treats plain language as a skill you can practise sentence by sentence.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Why communicate beyond your field
- 02
Research accessibility
- 03
Plain language habits
- 04
Metaphor and analogy
- 05
Learning from Three Minute Thesis talks
- 06
Communication and the purpose of research
Worked example · free
Rewrite a methods sentence for a general reader
- +1Replace the method term with what it does: 'I will read every interview closely and label what people say about each experience.'
- +1Explain inductive in plain words: 'Rather than deciding the answers in advance, I will let the patterns come from the conversations.'
- +1Add the payoff: 'This shows which concerns are shared and which are unusual.'
Key terms
- Research accessibility
- The degree to which people outside a discipline can understand a piece of research and why it matters.
- Analogy
- A comparison that maps the structure of an unfamiliar idea onto something the audience already knows.
- Three Minute Thesis
- A presentation format in which a researcher explains their project to a general audience in three minutes.
- Non-expert audience
- Readers or listeners without specialist training in a field, such as funders, community partners or the public.
- Plain language
- Writing that uses everyday words and short sentences so that readers outside a field can follow the argument.
Communicating Research to Non-Expert Audiences FAQ
Why does the unit teach communication to non-experts?
One learning outcome is making research understandable to other disciplines and to audiences outside academia. Funders, partners, policy makers and participants decide whether research happens or matters, and few share your vocabulary.
Is communicating research only about careers?
The Week 10 questions raise this directly. Clear communication helps in interviews and funding applications, but it also serves the purpose of research, since findings cannot help with public problems if no one can understand them.
How should I use metaphors in a proposal?
Choose one comparison whose structure matches your idea, introduce it briefly, and return to plain explanation. A metaphor that only decorates a sentence adds words without adding understanding.
What happens in the Week 10 workshop?
The slides cover research accessibility, key strategies and metaphors or analogies, and the class watches two Three Minute Thesis talks before individual activities on describing your own research.
What makes research accessible to non-experts?
Short sentences, technical terms replaced by what they do, one familiar comparison for the hardest idea, and a clear statement of why the work matters to the reader. Testing your explanation on someone outside the field shows where it fails.
Where is communicating research useful beyond the unit?
The A3 instructions point to settings such as job applications, grant applications and talking with the public or the press. In each, the audience decides whether your work goes ahead or matters, so explaining it plainly is part of doing research well.
Assessment move
Explain your project aloud to a friend outside the unit in one minute and record where they ask for clarification. Write one analogy for the hardest idea in your design and test whether it survives a follow-up question. Keep your clearest sentence as the opening line of your proposal. Repeat the test after each major redraft, ideally with a different listener each time.
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