The Research
Resonance Framework™️
Your research has the potential to change individual lives, whole systems, maybe even the future of our planet.
The problem is that most people aren’t visionaries like you. They have trouble appreciating the significance of your discoveries and your data, even when you explain it to them simply and clearly.
We use the Research Resonance Framework to overcome the limitations of typical approaches to sharing technical and scientific knowledge. It enables us to communicate complex concepts in ways that feel intuitive and compelling to your audience.
Stop Explaining, Start Resonating
To bring your audience onboard with your research-backed mission, stop trying to reach them mainly through their brain and start appealing to their heart and their personal sense of purpose as well. The key to success is to connect human to human, not brain to brain. You want your message to reverberate at the level of your audience’s deepest beliefs, values, and emotions.
The Research Resonance Framework combines emotion-rich language and visuals with intellectual rigor and strategic alignment. The result is a winning combination that breaks down skepticism and fosters uptake.
Resonance is how potential gets activated: projects get funded, pilot programs get launched, and client contracts get signed.
The Three Dimensions of Research Resonance
The Research Resonance Framework is an equilateral triangle, with each of the three dimensions held in balance. Without careful balancing, it’s easy to produce False Resonance, which tends to repel decision-makers.
Intellectual Resonance
We never “dumb down” ideas or pretend we’re pitching to your grandmother (unless your grandmother is in the intended audience you’ve scoped out and analyzed).
Our number one concern is fidelity to the research. We distill the essence of your ideas into simplified concepts without oversimplifying or distorting them.
We also interrogate your logic to make sure your ideas will stand up to your audience’s scrutiny. We may even question your data or sources if we think they could be strengthened to make a better case for implementing your research. (Clients have thanked us for spotting suspect references or data that have slipped into draft content.)
Our goal is to position you and your research as credible and trustworthy in the eyes of your audience, and we can’t do that by sacrificing intellectual rigor.Emotional Resonance
You may think your audience is driven by logical analysis, and so might they. But in reality, most of us make most of our decisions on the basis of feelings rather than rational thought.
To change minds, you first need to win hearts. We help you put a human face to your research so that the potential impact feels personally meaningful to your audience.
We do this by tailoring communication to your audience’s perspective so they see themselves in what you say. The first step in any project is getting up-close-and-personal with your audience. We’ll take you deeper than surface-level questions about the audience’s technical knowledge. Together, we’ll discover what makes your audience tick, the pressures they face, and the issues they care about.
Storytelling, relatable examples, and eye-catching visual design all contribute to emotional resonance. For example, in a report related to the housing crisis, we wove throughout the document the fictional story of a man experiencing homelessness. The narrative brings the data to life and serves as a unifying thread, helping to drive home the report’s key messages.Strategic Resonance
You can tell an engaging research story and showcase your data through attractive graphics, but if your messaging doesn’t align with the audience’s priorities, then you’re wasting your creativity.
When we examine your audience in depth, we also consider their strategic goals. This analysis enables us to frame research as solving your audience’s problem and to gear solutions to their decision-making process.
For example, when crafting a document for provincial ministers, we echoed the language of the mandate letters each of them received from the premier.
By creating strategic resonance, we make it easy for your audience to say yes. We show how moving your research forward means acting in their own best interest, fulfilling their objectives.
When communication is strategically resonant, the audience doesn’t have to ask, “How are these findings relevant?” The question becomes, “What’s the next step toward turning research into reality?”
Watch for False Resonance
The Research Resonance Framework functions as a three-part structure, with each part equally weighted. This balanced approach is critical because emphasizing one element at the expense of the other two creates False Resonance, which delivers poor results.
You’ve probably encountered False Resonance in one of these forms:
-
Clear but lifeless writing (overemphasis on Intellectual Resonance). Wondering why your Plain Language documents aren’t getting the response you’d hoped for? Clarity alone won’t ignite audience enthusiasm for your research.
Above all, your audience needs to trust you, and they can’t do that by relating to you on a purely cognitive level. They need to get a sense of who you are and what you stand for. To convey those qualities, you must connect with them emotionally and show them you’re committed to helping them achieve their goals. -
Hype (overemphasis on Emotional Resonance). Content created for marketing, social media, and popular journalism seek to “hook” the audience with colorful language and stories that can verge on the manipulative. The goal is to engage the audience and generate a quick, visceral reaction that will heighten interest in a topic and create a desire to learn more.
There’s nothing wrong with this motive to attract and attention and spark curiosity; you can’t persuade an audience you haven’t engaged. But when attention-seeking moves compromise accuracy, then intellectual integrity gets undermined and so, eventually, does trust. -
Business or bureaucratic blather (overemphasis on Strategic Resonance). Part of Strategic Resonance is the art of echoing your audience’s language, including the jargon they use in their professional community. “Talking the talk” enables you to position yourself as someone familiar with their world, an insider they can trust.
But leaning too heavily on this part of the Research Resonance Framework can turn sophisticated ideas into meaningless mush. Yes, reflecting the language of your audience’s strategic plan back to them can make you seem one of the team. However, many decision-makers rely heavily on buzzwords and bureaucratic language that intentionally obscures meaning. Mimicking their communication style too closely can weaken the Intellectual and Emotional Resonance you also need to win them over.
Get Your Free Resonance Review
How well do your communication products balance the three parts of the Research Resonance Framework? Find out by booking a free Resonance Review with Dr. Dawn Henwood.
In this 30-minute conversation, Dawn will review one of your current communication products with you. You’ll come away with practical strategies to make it more resonant and impactful.
The Research Resonance Framework™️
Your research has the potential to change individual lives, whole systems, maybe even the future of our planet.
The problem is that most people aren’t visionaries like you. They have trouble appreciating the significance of your discoveries and your data, even when you explain it to them simply and clearly.
We use the Research Resonance Framework to overcome the limitations of typical approaches to sharing technical and scientific knowledge. It enables us to communicate complex concepts in ways that feel intuitive and compelling to your audience.
Stop Explaining, Start Resonating
To bring your audience onboard with your research-backed mission, stop trying to reach them mainly through their brain and start appealing to their heart and their personal sense of purpose as well. The key to success is to connect human to human, not brain to brain. You want your message to reverberate at the level of your audience’s deepest beliefs, values, and emotions.
The Research Resonance Framework combines emotion-rich language and visuals with intellectual rigor and strategic alignment. The result is a winning combination that breaks down skepticism and fosters uptake.
Resonance is how potential gets activated: projects get funded, pilot programs get launched, and client contracts get signed.
The Three Dimensions of Research Resonance
The Research Resonance Framework is an equilateral triangle, with each of the three dimensions held in balance. Without careful balancing, it’s easy to produce False Resonance, which tends to repel decision-makers.
Intellectual Resonance
We never “dumb down” ideas or pretend we’re pitching to your grandmother (unless your grandmother is in the intended audience you’ve scoped out and analyzed).
Our number one concern is fidelity to the research. We distill the essence of your ideas into simplified concepts without oversimplifying or distorting them.
We also interrogate your logic to make sure your ideas will stand up to your audience’s scrutiny. We may even question your data or sources if we think they could be strengthened to make a better case for implementing your research. (Clients have thanked us for spotting suspect references or data that have slipped into draft content.)
Our goal is to position you and your research as credible and trustworthy in the eyes of your audience, and we can’t do that by sacrificing intellectual rigor.Emotional Resonance
You may think your audience is driven by logical analysis, and so might they. But in reality, most of us make most of our decisions on the basis of feelings rather than rational thought.
To change minds, you first need to win hearts. We help you put a human face to your research so that the potential impact feels personally meaningful to your audience.
We do this by tailoring communication to your audience’s perspective so they see themselves in what you say. The first step in any project is getting up-close-and-personal with your audience. We’ll take you deeper than surface-level questions about the audience’s technical knowledge. Together, we’ll discover what makes your audience tick, the pressures they face, and the issues they care about.
Storytelling, relatable examples, and eye-catching visual design all contribute to emotional resonance. For example, in a report related to the housing crisis, we wove throughout the document the fictional story of a man experiencing homelessness. The narrative brings the data to life and serves as a unifying thread, helping to drive home the report’s key messages.Strategic Resonance
You can tell an engaging research story and showcase your data through attractive graphics, but if your messaging doesn’t align with the audience’s priorities, then you’re wasting your creativity.
When we examine your audience in depth, we also consider their strategic goals. This analysis enables us to frame research as solving your audience’s problem and to gear solutions to their decision-making process.
For example, when crafting a document for provincial ministers, we echoed the language of the mandate letters each of them received from the premier.
By creating strategic resonance, we make it easy for your audience to say yes. We show how moving your research forward means acting in their own best interest, fulfilling their objectives.
When communication is strategically resonant, the audience doesn’t have to ask, “How are these findings relevant?” The question becomes, “What’s the next step toward turning research into reality?”
Watch for False Resonance
The Research Resonance Framework functions as a three-part structure, with each part equally weighted. This balanced approach is critical because emphasizing one element at the expense of the other two creates False Resonance, which delivers poor results.
You’ve probably encountered False Resonance in one of these forms:
Clear but lifeless writing (overemphasis on Intellectual Resonance). Wondering why your Plain Language documents aren’t getting the response you’d hoped for? Clarity alone won’t ignite audience enthusiasm for your research.
Above all, your audience needs to trust you, and they can’t do that by relating to you on a purely cognitive level. They need to get a sense of who you are and what you stand for. To convey those qualities, you must connect with them emotionally and show them you’re committed to helping them achieve their goals.Hype (overemphasis on Emotional Resonance). Content created for marketing, social media, and popular journalism seek to “hook” the audience with colorful language and stories that can verge on the manipulative. The goal is to engage the audience and generate a quick, visceral reaction that will heighten interest in a topic and create a desire to learn more.
There’s nothing wrong with this motive to attract and attention and spark curiosity; you can’t persuade an audience you haven’t engaged. But when attention-seeking moves compromise accuracy, then intellectual integrity gets undermined and so, eventually, does trust.Business or bureaucratic blather (overemphasis on Strategic Resonance). Part of Strategic Resonance is the art of echoing your audience’s language, including the jargon they use in their professional community. “Talking the talk” enables you to position yourself as someone familiar with their world, an insider they can trust.
But leaning too heavily on this part of the Research Resonance Framework can turn sophisticated ideas into meaningless mush. Yes, reflecting the language of your audience’s strategic plan back to them can make you seem one of the team. However, many decision-makers rely heavily on buzzwords and bureaucratic language that intentionally obscures meaning. Mimicking their communication style too closely can weaken the Intellectual and Emotional Resonance you also need to win them over.
Get Your Free Resonance Review
How well do your communication products balance the three parts of the Research Resonance Framework? Find out by booking a free Resonance Review with Dr. Dawn Henwood.
In this 30-minute conversation, Dawn will review one of your current communication products with you. You’ll come away with practical strategies to make it more resonant and impactful.
