Real-Life Communication
You are a research coordinator hoping to develop a research project
on wild tigers. Because the animals are endangered, many people are concerned
about the animals' welfare and about how you will conduct your project.
"One
of the more difficult parts of the job is interfacing between science and
the public," says Andrew DeVogelaere, a research coordinator. "You talk with
people who aren't scientists and who are emotional about issues, and
you help them understand what is going on."
Research coordinators also
need to be able to write proposals to get funding for experiments, write for
publications on their findings and give talks about the research projects.
Currently
you are giving a talk about tigers to inform the public about the wild cat.
In your talk, you hope to then go on and establish how your research project
is going to benefit the animal.
Here is an excerpt from your speech:
The
tiger is the largest of all the wild cats. It is recognizable by its distinctive
reddish-orange coat, black stripes and white underbelly. The tiger's
head is round. It has rounded ears, which are black on the outside and white
on the inside.
Tigers once roamed across Asia, but their numbers have
been severely reduced. Only pockets of the animals still live in India, Vietnam,
parts of Indonesia, China and eastern Russia. In fact, there are only approximately
5,000 wild tigers left in the world.
Tigers prefer a solitary existence,
with the exception of a mother with cubs. These cats can mate at any time
of the year, but generally mate in winter and spring.
Tigers can survive
in a wide variety of habitats, ranging from tropical forests to the birch
woodlands in Siberia. In general, tigers prefer some type of dense vegetation
for cover and access to water.
After you have given a bit of background
information about the tiger, some audience members ask a few questions:
- Do tigers travel in packs?
- How many tigers exist in the wild today?
- What type of habitat do tigers prefer?
How do you answer their questions?