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Researching communications in an international project

Alexia Pigeault, student in the International Master of Science in Marine Biological Resources joint European Master’s program (IMBRSea), recently completed her thesis on communication in the Dried Fish Matters project supervised by Prof. Fabiana Li.

This study, “Assessing perceptions of effectiveness of three levels of communication in an international project on the social economy of dried fish in Asia”, was conducted as part of my Master Thesis from September 2020 to August 2021, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this thesis was done remotely.

I used a mixed method approach to examine various factors influencing communication effectiveness in an international project directed by anthropologists. The project is called “Dried Fish Matters” (DFM) and focuses on the importance of the social economy of dried fish and the social wellbeing of marginalized people in South and South-East Asia. My study can serve as a model to encourage other international research projects to include reflexivity and self-analysis in their work and communication practices.

Communication can take multiple forms and is essential in our personal and professional lives. Communication has been studied in various contexts, including architecture projects; distance education; commercial enterprises; fishery organizations, industries, consumers, marketing companies and decision makers; and medical environments. However, communication within international research teams has been understudied.

I used three different methods to investigate DFM’s internal and external communications: a general survey, in-depth interviews and participant observation. Internal communications were divided into internal communication within research teams and internal communication within the global project. Both types of internal communications were found to be effective from participants’ perspectives: 84% of the participants answered positively to the general questions. Concerning the external communication addressed to external users, results were much more mixed, with only 47% of the participants answering positively about its effectiveness. Even though the mixed method approach can be an effective methodology for engaging with communication effectiveness, close attention should be given to the definitions of communication and communication effectiveness.

DFM Student Working Group Meeting (2020), part of the participant observation methodology.

This study highlights some of the influencing factors of communication, including hierarchy, interdisciplinary collaboration, personality traits, social relationships among colleagues, and DFM’s coordination. There is not a single definition of effective communication or a model for how it can be achieved in every case, so it is impossible to make generalizations based on this work. However, my study demonstrates the importance of transparency, open-mindedness and frequent communications in international research projects, which can form the basis of effective communication. Thereby, I demonstrate the importance of communication in research projects, the lack of literature associated with it, and the influencing factors that could be seen as a requirement to have effective communication.

Key recommendations

Here are some key recommendations based on the results of this study and from the participants’ point of view:

  • Having a Zoom free Friday, or Zoom-free after 9 pm
  • Having a summary in one place to keep track of everything related to the project, for example in the DFM’s website for all the participants, or in the wiki-page
  • Sending an analysis every couple of weeks or month in order to keep collaborators from the project aware of the research
  • Having one person or a group of people dedicated to communication full-time
  • Having someone from DFM central monitoring and assisting the country teams; it could even improve the communication between regional teams and DFM central

Here are my key recommendations based on the results of this study:

  • Online meetings should include a break of 5 or 10 minutes during the middle of a meeting. Moreover, it would be helpful to alternate the meeting time: one time during the morning in Canada, one time during the evening in Canada, etc
  • Giving more feedback to everyone working within the project
  • Increase social media presence by creating an account on Instagram and/or other online platforms to expand communication toward the general public
  • Create a WhatsApp group within research teams and even within the global project

Reference

Pigeault, Alexia. 2021. “Assessing Perceptions of Effectiveness of Three Levels of Communication in an International Project on the Social Economy of Dried Fish in Asia.” Master’s thesis, Online: Gent University and University of Manitoba. [Thesis report Alexia Pigeault.pdf]

Effective communication in research projects can have direct positive impacts on knowledge co-production and the researchers’ wellbeing. Examining the factors influencing communication requires in-depth observation and understanding of the researchers’ opinions and actions. This study consisted of “researching the researchers”; as part of my thesis research, I observed the interactions of members of an international research project on dried fish in South and South East Asia led by Canadian Anthropologists. The focus was on internal and external communications and revealed that open-mindedness, frequent communication, and transparency are three determinants of effective communication. Moreover, the results show a global agreement on the effectiveness of internal communications, while the results for external communication are more mixed. Studying our own communications by engaging in introspection is something that should be required to produce better outcomes and enhance collaboration in international projects.