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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Science and Environmental Communication
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1421692

Measuring the effectiveness of communication of a podcast on food sustainability

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2 ARNET- Aquatic Research Network, Lisboa, Portugal
  • 3 Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal
  • 4 Center for Marine and Environmental Research, School of Management, Hospitality and Tourism, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
  • 5 University of Algarve, Faro, Faro, Portugal
  • 6 NOVA University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal
  • 7 ICNOVA- Nova Communication Institute, Lisboa, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In this study, the effectiveness of communication of a podcast was assessed regarding the variables knowledge retention and interest. Two podcast episodes were produced about Portuguese research in sustainable food, and two news pieces with similar information and reading times were written to be used as a control for this experiment. Initially, 115 students from two universities in Lisbon filled in an online pre-test questionnaire. One week later, 102 students from those 115 students initially assessed listened to one podcast or read one news piece and completed an online post-test questionnaire. Statistical analysis showed a significant increase in the knowledge retention in both media and no significant differences in what concerns interest on food sustainability or science. Moreover, it was found that there were no significant differences between the two tested media in both the knowledge retention and interest. Nevertheless, the recent popularity of podcasts may justify its production as a new and flexible way to communicate science.

    Keywords: science and popular culture, media and science, Food research, Science Communication, New media

    Received: 22 Apr 2024; Accepted: 08 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pinto, Matias and Granado. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Bruno Pinto, Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Lisbon, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.