Meeting the Needs of USGS's Science Application for Risk Reduction Group through Evaluation Research

The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Science Application for Risk Reduction (SAFRR) group aims to support innovative collaborations in hazard science by uniting a broad range of stakeholders to produce and disseminate knowledge in ways that are useful for decision-making in hazard mitigation, planning, and preparedness. Since 2013, an evaluation team at the Natural Hazards Center (NHC) has worked closely with the SAFRR group to assess these collaborations and communication efforts. In contributing to the nexus between academia and practice, or "pracademia," we use evaluation research to provide the USGS with useful feedback for crafting relevant information for practitioners and decision-makers. This presentation will highlight how the NHC team has varied our methodological and information design approaches according to the needs of each project, which in turn assist the SAFRR group in meeting the needs of practitioners and decision-makers. As the foci of our evaluation activities with SAFRR have evolved, so have our efforts to ensure that our work appropriately matches the information needs of each scenario project. We draw upon multiple projects, including evaluation work on the SAFRR Tsunami Scenario, "The First Sue Nami" tsunami awareness messaging, and their most recent project concerning a hypothetical M7 earthquake on the Hayward fault in the Bay Area (HayWired scenario). We have utilized various qualitative and quantitative methodologies—including telephone interviews, focus groups, online surveys, nonparticipant observation, and in-person survey distribution. The findings generated from these series of evaluations highlight the ways in which evaluation research can be used by researchers and academics to more appropriately address the needs of practitioners. Moreover, they contribute to knowledge enhancement surrounding disaster preparedness and risk communication, and, more generally, the limited body of knowledge about evaluation-focused disaster preparedness and risk communication. Finally, they call attention to the need to adapt evaluation findings for a variety of audiences to ensure accessibility and utility for enhancing future practice.