NOAA SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL

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NOAA SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL

• REPORT TO THE
• NOAA SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
• 18 MARCH 2003

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SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL

• Lee Anderson U. Delaware
• Richard Bishop U. Wisconsin
• Margaret Davidson NOAA NOS
• Susan Hanna Oregon State U.
• Mark Holliday NOAA NMFS
• Judith Kildow U. Southern California
• Diana Liverman U. Arizona
• Bonnie McCay Rutgers U.
• Edward Miles U. Washington
• Roger Pielke, Jr. U. Colorado
• Roger Pulwarty NOAA OAR OGP CDC

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CHARGE TO THE REVIEW PANEL

• Review types and level of social science research
• Recommend short-term research agenda
• Recommend long-term research agenda
• Develop budget estimates

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INFORMATION SOURCES

• Presentations from Line Offices and Chief
  Economist
• Data provided by Line Offices
• Interviews with AAs and Chief Economist
• Reports of NOAA and other agencies

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REPORT STRUCTURE

• Social science defined
• Status of social science within NOAA
• Example research questions
• Budget recommendations
• Appendices
• line office summaries
• AA interviews
• forms

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SOCIAL SCIENCE DEFINED

• Social science is the process of describing,
  explaining and predicting human behavior and
  institutional structure in interaction with their
  environments.

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GENERAL FINDINGS

• NOAAs capacity to meet its mandates and mission
  is diminished by the under-representation and
  under-utilization of social science.
• Assistant Administrators are responsive to
  discussing opportunities for an enhanced role for
  social science within their line offices.

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SPECIFIC FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERACY

• Finding
• Throughout NOAA there is a lack of formal
  understanding of social science and its potential
  contributions.
• Identified need to understand
• risk perception
• behavioral response
• effective communication
• non-market valuation
• interpretation of geographic information

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SOCIAL SCIENCE LITERACY

• Recommendations
• Conduct a workshop to familiarize AAs and senior
  management with social science and to address its
  potential contribution to NOAA missions.
• NOAA AAs and senior management establish goals
  and objectives for achieving social science
  literacy within NOAA.

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SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

• Finding Two general categories of social science
  research are critical to the accomplishment of
  NOAAs mission programmatic and organizational.

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PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH EXAMPLES

• 1. RESEARCH TO FACILITATE ROUTINE ACTIVITIES
• Who uses the products of a line office?
• How do people respond to information?
• What is the best way to package and transmit
  information?

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PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH EXAMPLES

• 2. RESEARCH TO SUPPORT REGULATION
• What determines behavior of marine resource
  users?
• How do people value marine and coastal resources?
• What changes in behavior or institutions are
  required to improve the status of marine and
  coastal resources?

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PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH EXAMPLES

• 3. BASELINE RESEARCH
• What perceptions and beliefs influence response
  to weather warnings?
• What cultural ties and traditions do communities
  associate with coastal resources?
• How do people perceive the effects of climate
  change?

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ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH EXAMPLES

• How does line office organization affect program
  outcomes?
• What factors determine program effectiveness?
• What are the potential benefits and costs of
  cross-line collaborations?

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SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

• Findings
• Social science research is small and unbalanced
  across disciplines.
• Few targeted programs for social science research
• Social science can enhance the process of
  prioritizing research and help connect the
  results of that research with its stakeholders.

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SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS

• NESDIS cost-benefit analyses policy analysis
  market assessment of predictive capabilities
• NMFS regulatory analyses human behavior
  community structure institutional structure
  economics of fisheries culture of fisheries
• NOS perceptions, attitudes, behavior cultural
  differences surveys
• NWS improved communication of information
  assessment of user needs
• OAR cost-benefit analysis of programs use of
  climate information perception of climate change

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SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

• Recommendations
• Each line office and Headquarters should develop
  a social science research plan and a strategy to
  implement it.
• Line offices should establish specific targets
  for social science research through reprogramming
  and new initiatives.
• Sea Grant should accept a larger role in
  supporting social science research.

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SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA

• Finding
• The lack of appropriate data limits the
  contribution of social science to NOAA.
• Insufficient time series data
• Insufficient cataloging and archiving
• Restrictions on collecting economic data

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SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA

• Recommendations
• NOAA should inventory, document and archive its
  economic and other social science data.
• NOAA Administrators should seek congressional
  support to rescind the prohibition on collecting
  economic data under the MSFCMA.

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SOCIAL SCIENCE STAFFING

• Finding
• NOAAs social science staffing is insufficient to
  meet the mission of each of the line offices.
• Small numbers and fragmentation prevent critical
  mass
• Too small to influence the long-term research
  agenda
• Lack of established career path for social
  scientists

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SOCIAL SCIENCE STAFFING

• Recommendations
• Headquarters and Each Line Office should
• Evaluate the adequacy of social science staffing
  relative to its mission, as NMFS has done.
• Jointly develop a plan to develop core social
  science capacity.
• Investigate opportunities for improving planning,
  communication and networking among social
  scientists within and across line offices.

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SENIOR REPRESENTATION

• Finding
• There is no functional representation of social
  science in the Directorates of HQ or the line
  offices in the form of a dedicated social science
  position.
• Recommendation
• NOAA should create a chief social scientist
  position in each line office with the explicit
  responsibility for developing, advocating and
  overseeing social science research that meets the
  needs of the line office.

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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

• Findings
• AAs recognize the need to better define and
  understand their constituents and communicate
  with them.
• NOAAs ability to understand and communicate with
  constituents is limited by a lack of expertise in
  social science survey methodology and perceived
  obstacles to conducting surveys.

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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

• Recommendations
• NOAA line offices should carefully evaluate their
  public outreach and education needs and identify
  existing programs (e.g. Sea Grant Extension) with
  potential for collaboration.
• NOAA should organize a center of excellence in
  survey research to conduct constituent surveys.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING

• Findings
• With the exception of NMFS, social science
  objectives represented in line office strategic
  plans do not track into a long-term research
  agenda influenced by the social sciences.
• Although line office strategic plans contain
  economic and social elements, with the exception
  of OGP and NMFS there is almost no long-term
  strategic planning for social science at NOAA.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING

• Recommendations
• Each line office should develop a social science
  research plan and ensure that it is integrated
  into the NOAA strategic plan.
• In each line office, the new chief social
  scientist and the directorate should be
  responsible for incorporating explicit social
  science objectives and performance measures into
  their strategic plans and annual operating plans.

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PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

• Finding
• The application of social science is a necessary
  component of outcome-based program effectiveness
  measurement and monitoring in the FY2003-FY2008
  Strategic Plan.
• Strategic Plan Goals
• increase value of marine resources
• increase use and effectiveness of climate info
• increase benefits of warning services
• increase use of environmental information
• reduce negative impacts of port development

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PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

• Recommendation
• Use social scientists to lead the development of
  performance metrics in evaluating outcome
  effectiveness.

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BUDGETS

• Findings
• NOAA could over the next 5 years justify an
  increase of 100M over the current 3.3B budget
  to improve the competency and contribution of
  social science to achieving mission objectives.
• To initiate this multiyear social science program
  expansion, NOAAs FY05 budget would need to
  include 21M investment in new social science
  data, staff and research.

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BUDGETS

• Budget Recommendation Social Science Capacity
• For line offices that do not have a social
  science research plan obtain core competency of
  senior social scientists to develop a social
  science plan.
• For line offices that have already have a social
  science research plan direct majority of 1st
  year funds to implementation of social science
  research plans (NMFS and OGP HD).
• Use some funds to seed program development in
  other line offices.

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BUDGETS

• Budget Recommendation
• Center for Economic Valuation
• Invest 2M in a virtual NOAA Center for Economic
  Valuation to coordinate research, data
  collection, surveys and models.
• Organize through a partnership of NMFS, NOS, OAR
  and NWS.

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BUDGETS

• Budget Recommendation
• Center for Economic Valuation
• Use the Center to evaluate the benefits and costs
  of alternative policy choices and examine the
  risks and impacts of these alternatives.
• Manage the Center as a matrix program in
  conformity with recent trends in NOAA
  organizational structure.

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BUDGETS

• Budget Recommendation Performance Measurement
• Recognizing the new NOAA Strategic Plans focus
  on accountability and performance management
• Invest 2M in strengthening NOAAs ability to
  measure economic and social benefits and costs
  associated with program implementation and
  performance.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• The Panel thanks the AAs, line office staffs and
  the NOAA Chief Economist for their helpful
  provision of information.
• The Panel thanks Sean Conley for excellent
  staffing.

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NOAA SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL

• REPORT TO THE
• NOAA SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
• 18 MARCH 2003