Sharing insect research via online video: Experimental assessments of scientists as communicators

Online videos are increasingly recognized as a popular medium for science communication and the science stories in these videos can be told from many perspectives. In two separate experiments, we tested whether the relationship of a spokesperson to the science story being told influences how people react and respond to science media. We created video stimuli that fell into three treatments: a scientist presenting their own research (male or female), a third party summarizing research (male or female), and text only (no presenter). The stimuli for each experiment presented the same fabricated science story with one experiment focusing on the discovery of a new ant species (Formicidae), and the second on how bee (Apoidea) species richness and composition differed across land cover categories. We used Qualtrics to obtain survey responses from a total of 1,135 respondents. Respondents were randomly assigned to watch one video and answered questions to assess their perceptions of the spokesperson and the video. Respondents were also asked to recall what they had seen and heard. We determined that when respondents watched a video in which a scientist presented their own research, they perceived the spokesperson as being more competent than when the research was presented by a third party. Additionally, trust-related perceptions were similar across person on-screen treatments but elevated when compared to a no presenter treatment. Viewing a scientist presenting their own work also humanized that research, with respondents more often including a person when recalling the video.