Identification

Title

Conceptualizing confidence: A multisited qualitative analysis in a severe weather context

Abstract

Confidence is a concept important to weather prediction, shaping how risk information is created, shared, understood, and acted upon. For forecasters in the National Weather Service (NWS) and their partners in public safety, confidence is central to their work, appearing frequently during their decision support services. While confidence has been examined in a variety of literatures, it is often addressed simplistically or as one of many variables in a study. It is rarely the object of study in and of itself, even less so in a naturalistic setting like an operational environment. To build a more robust knowledge of confidence and its many dimensions, we conducted a multisited ethnography of three interrelated sites central to tornado prediction and information dissemination, leading up to and during a cool-season tornado event. In partnership with collaborators from the NWS and emergency management, we simultaneously deployed to a National Center, a local Weather Forecast Office, and an emergency management office. This article explicates confidence from multiple social science theories, considering the scientific, data-based roots of confidence, as well as its affective, relational, and procedural origins. Our results show that confidence emerges in varied and complex ways and at different scales. Confidence can indicate one's assessment of evidence and agreement (or lack) of it, beliefs about partners' future behavior based on past experiences, and ritual interactions between offices that create patterned expectations. We argue for a more robust interdisciplinary analysis of confidence given how it shapes weather-related policies and practices, technologies, and communication strategies.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7251p3g

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-02-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact