S. Moffatt et al., "Impact? What impact?" Epidemiological research findings in the public domain: a case study from north-east England, SOCIAL SC M, 51(12), 2000, pp. 1755-1769
This paper reflects on the dissemination of potentially controversial resea
rch evidence about industrial air pollution and health in north-east Englan
d. It draws on a participant observation study of the local impact of a fou
r-year epidemiological research programme in Teesside. The difficulties in
and obstacles to disseminating research findings are explored. It may thus
be described as a study of the impact of a study. We look at institutional
resistance (including from the funders of the research) to any evidence ind
icating adverse health effects from industrial pollution. We also look at t
he failure of researchers to surmount such resistance and to communicate ef
fectively with those who lived in the vicinity of the major industrial oper
ations. This leads us to consider how conflicting notions of accountability
coloured dissemination strategies as well as researchers' judgements. We o
ffer a critique of fashionable and unduly consensual notions of a 'user com
munity', in a context where different 'user communities' had incompatible e
xpectations about the purpose of a piece of research and the significance o
f the data to emerge from it. The study also highlights the difficulties of
disseminating research findings when the topic has the potential to affect
economic interests. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.