For WSU researcher Amanda Boyd, the goal is to identify risks and effectively communicate them to the population that is at risk. In Boyd’s case, that population is the Inuit people of the Arctic Circle.

Boyd is an assistant professor at WSU who studies risk communication and considers this question every time she conducts her research: “How do you deliver these messages in a way that does not scare people and is effective and culturally appropriate as well?”

Boyd has conducted various studies on the indigenous populations of Northern Canada. She was a co-author of a 2009 study published in Volume 16 of Gender, Place & Culture.

The study discussed health risk perspectives based on gender and location in Aboriginal communities of Canada.

Her most recent study centered on health messages received by Inuit peoples in three different regions of Nunavut, a territory of Canada that contains most of the Inuit population.

“We’re still trying to develop better health care messages,” Boyd explained, adding that there isn’t a lot of communication research in the arctic.

The study was funded by the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP). The NCP was founded in 1991 by the Canadian government in response to high levels of contaminants found in the traditional food sources of northern Aboriginal populations.

Boyd’s research on the Inuit and other indigenous populations of Canada is done in tandem with the Health, Environment, and Indigenous Communities Research Group (HEIC).

HEIC is based at Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, where Boyd received her Ph.D. in Environmental Resource Studies and Sciences.

“Not only is Amanda’s work practical in its contribution to the study of communications, it’s actually having an impact on people’s lives,” said Jessica Willouby, an assistant professor in The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at WSU. “You’d think being split between a teacher and a researcher would be hard, but she still gives 110 percent in everything that she does.”

The surveys were conducted through use of iPads and Polldaddy, a survey creator and hosting site.

Each question was presented in English and the dialect of the community in which it was conducted.

The survey analyzed if the participant had received a specific health risk message, whether or not they agreed with the message and if they planned to change their behavior based on that message.

“Amanda has very unique data sets, which she acquires from working with people from special populations,” said Prabu David, associate dean for academics at WSU.

“It takes a lot of initiative and energy to collect data from special groups,” David said. “She builds confidence and trust with the groups she works with to get the right data to answer the question.”

Boyd and her colleagues cannot publish nor discuss the results of any studies with the Inuit before briefing the tribes, she explained.

This is a stipulation of allowing researchers to conduct their studies with the Inuit.

When studying the Inuit, researchers can only travel to the Arctic in the winter, as much of the Inuit population is busy camping and hunting during the summer.

“It’s such a different place,” Boyd explained. “I’m a Canadian, but it doesn’t feel like Canada.”

As a child, Boyd enjoyed the stories her grandmother would tell about Aboriginal culture.

Boyd plans to conduct more research on the Inuit in the upcoming months.