When science meets society: The role of unsolicited self-disclosures in conversations between researchers and community members

Recently, there have been calls for a new approach to science communication, emphasizing relationship building between researchers and the public. To date, what relationship building looks like in practice remains unclear. In this conversation-analytic study, we analyze conversations between researchers from different disciplines and community members to examine relationship building in real life. We analyzed a recurring pattern in these conversations where community members provide unsolicited self-disclosures. Such self-disclosures serve as one approach through which community members establish a link between “science” and their lifeworld, aiming to build a relationship with researchers. In response, researchers generally disattended the self-disclosure but occasionally asked questions that probed deeper into community members’ self-disclosures. We discuss the implications for science communication theory and practice. • Examines “relationship building” between researchers and citizens in real life. • Data include Dutch conversations between academic researchers and community members. • Community members introduced self-disclosures even when not sequentially relevant. • They linked their lifeworld to science, building relationships with researchers. • Researchers often responded outside the scope of self-disclosures.