Flooded by jargon: how the interpretation of water-related terms differs between hydrology experts and the general audience

Venhuizen, Gemma J.; Hut, Rolf; Albers, Casper; Stoof, Cathelijne R.; Smeets, Ionica

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-393-2019

Articles | Volume 23, issue 1

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 393–403, 2019

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-393-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 393–403, 2019

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-393-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 1

Education and communication 22 Jan 2019

Education and communication | 22 Jan 2019

Flooded by jargon: how the interpretation of water-related terms differs between hydrology experts and the general audience

Gemma J. Venhuizen et al.

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-393-2019-supplement

Model code and software

Flooded by jargon C. Albers, G. J. Venhuizen, R. Hut, I. Smeets, and C. R. Stoof https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WK9S6

Short summary

Do experts attach the same meaning as laypeople to terms often used in hydrology such as "river", "flooding" and "downstream"? In this study a survey was completed by 34 experts and 119 laypeople to answer this question. We found that there are some profound differences between experts and laypeople: words like "river" and "river basin" turn out to have a different interpretation between the two groups. However, when using pictures there is much more agreement between the groups.