Use of scientific research by South African winemakers

Abstract

The study investigated the extent to which transmission and cognition, the first two stages in the research use process, are accomplished for winemakers. “Transmission-cognition” was operationalized as the frequency of engagement with information sources considered to be carriers of scientific research. The study also investigated the prominence of four types of research use among winemakers (conceptual, symbolic, instrumental and persuasive) together with their inter-relationship. Conceptual use of scientific information was reported by 90% of winemakers and is a precursor to the other types of research use. Findings are discussed with reference to knowledge creep and the dissemination of scientific research through central winemakers acting as nodes in social networks.

Academics at three African universities on the perceived utilisation of their research

“…instrumental, symbolic and conceptual. Although these models focus on research use in a policy context, they also apply to other domains of practice (Boshoff 2014b;Estabrooks 1999).…”

“…the results inform specific decisions or interventions), and the results are often also "translated into a material and useable form, such as a protocol" (Estabrooks 1999, 204). For Boshoff (2014b), for example in winemaking, instrumental use represents instances of winemakers doing things differently in the winery because of specific research results.…”

“…Beyond the policy sphere, e.g. in winemaking practice, symbolic use could refer to instances where specific research results are used to support a winemaker's personal belief concerning winemaking (Boshoff 2014b). The symbolic use of research is closely related to persuasive utilisation, where research results are used to persuade others to adopt a pre-determined position (Strandberg et al 2014).…”

Types of knowledge in science-based practices

“…The same reasoning applies to my own work on the information sources of winemakers. Elsewhere in this journal [8] I discussed the information sources that South African winemakers most frequently consult, but the focus now is on the extent to which the same group of winemakers regard a selection of these sources as extremely important for their winemaking practice. As can be seen in table 1, considerable importance is attached to experience and personal knowledge.…”

“…However, more recently the historical link between the fields of science communication and knowledge utilisation has become quite tenuous. This is evident from the small number of articles on the topic published since 2000 in both Science Communication [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and JCOM [8][9][10] (although the latter journal only started in 2002).…”