Page 133 - Demo

Discussion and Conclusions1316In this final chapter, I will first show how I addressed the main research question through the sub-questions. This is followed by a discussion, reflection on methods and suggestions for further research. I conclude with recommendations for practice and a final remark.6.1 Main research question: Answer and DiscussionThis thesis investigated the role of visualisations in policy controversies over energy and food technologies. The research aimed to reveal what meanings of contested energy and food technologies are conveyed by visualisations in policy controversies. Hence, the main research question was:What meanings do visualisations convey in policy controversies over energy and food technologies?I addressed this question through a conceptual framework of three aspects of visualisations’ meaning-making: (1) type and content, (2) narrative and (3) circulation. For each element, I formulated a sub-question that I will answer here. See Annex D for a detailed overview of the results per sub-question.6.1.1 Type and Content (sub-question 1)In this section, I discuss my findings of patterns of using visualisations and, in particular, specific visualisation types and content. Hence, I answer the question:What patterns of type and content can be revealed in an online policy controversy?In the online controversies I have studied, actors generally give meanings to the contested technology using visualisations of a specific type and content: Often, data-related visualisations are used, and the content of the visuals in the studied controversies is specific to a topic. But there is more to say about these findings.First pattern: Extensive use of data-related visualisationsOur results indicate that data-related visualisations are used more extensively by opponents than by proponents and mostly are accompanied with a negative Efrat.indd 131 19-09-2023 09:47