Description

Communication and dissemination of longitudinal study findings

CATHERINE CHOJENTA, JULIE ELLEN BYLES, DEBORAH LOXTON AND ROSEMARY MOONEY

Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.

ABSTRACT

Communication of results is one of the most important outputs of a longitudinal study. The findings may be disseminated to fellow researchers, through conference presentations and journal articles, to funding bodies through reports, and to the general public through mass media interviews. In each case, a different style of communication is required that is suitable to the audience as well as to the purpose of the study. In this paper, we discuss some of these different communication channels and describe some important distinctions in writing for different audiences.

Keywords: longitudinal studies; research administration; research publications; communications strategy