Interrogating the Media of Communication of Science and Technology Research Outcomes to the Public in Niger

Abstract

This paper interrogated the media of communication of science and technology research outcomes to the public in Nigeria with a view to identifying the commonly used media, factors responsible for the choice of the media, awareness of the researchers about alternative media to the commonly adopted ones, their usage or non-usage of such media and the reasons for their decisions. The paper situated, within the theoretical framework of development communication, adopted focus group discussion and purposive sampling technique. 19 doctoral researchers of the National Centre for Technology Management, Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, an Agency of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Nigeria were purposively selected out of the 37 researchers at the Agency. They were so selected because they are the top researchers who executed the major research projects at the institution. Questionnaires were administered to the researchers; they were also engaged in a focus group discussion because the issue being
interrogated is of common interest to them. It concluded that the major media of communication of science and technology research outcomes are journal, conference paper, books and monographs because they are the acceptable standards of communicating research findings and means of determining career advancement, while alternative media of communication are not yet popular because of their non-acceptability as means of disseminating research outcomes. The paper recommended that departments of mass communication, media studies and other stakeholders in communication discipline should create more awareness about e use of alternative media to disseminate research outcomes in science and technology so as to reach out to all those concerned and make outcomes of the research more beneficial to the society.