Articles | Volume 23, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-393-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-393-2019
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, Rolf Hut, Casper Albers, Cathelijne R. Stoof, and Ionica Smeets

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Cited articles

Albers, C., Venhuizen, G. J., Hut, R., Smeets, I., and Stoof, C. R.: Flooded by jargon, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WK9S6, 2018. 
Arthurs, L.: Assessing Student Learning of Oceanography Concepts, Oceanography, 29, 18–21, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.68, 2016. 
Basher, R.: Global early warning systems for natural hazards: systematic and people-centred, Philos. T. R. Soc. A, 364, 2167–2182, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2006.1819, 2006. 
Bender, R. and Lange, S.: Adjusting for multiple testing-when and how?, J. Clin. Epidemiol., 54, 343–349, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(00)00314-0, 1999. 
Blackman, J. and Sahebjalal, M.: Patient understanding of frequently used cardiology terminology, British Journal of Cardiology, 21, 102–106, https://doi.org/10.5837/bjc.2014.007, 2014. 
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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.
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