@petergleick @MichaelEMann

It would inform me what kind of actions I would need to perform if what I sought was the publics approval.
It doesn't tell me lot about what actually changes the publics mind, but instead just about what the public believes changes it mind. Social science research is indeed bloody hard, way slipperier mere climate science.
Let me be specific/exemplary, I used to teach math. Numbers of students reported to me that the things I had just said and the questions I just asked were a pointless. (At least as pointless as XR actions)
So I created a new process. When I started talking I verified can you do problem X? Answer was no. When I had finished, if I got negative reported value from the questions I had been asking, I checked: "That problem X that you could not do at the start can you do it now... ?" Answer was yes, so no their self evaluated value and effect of my actions/questions was just wrong. I have no doubt near every person whose opinion most needs to be (would be improved by) challenged by XR is of the opinion XR didn't persuade them of anything. Hell, if their opinion ever changes, they also likely wont accurately know what they learned from where by who. People rarely think "I used to be a doofus but X showed me the way." Given the morally challenging results of many peoples views on AGCC, no way they will ever admit to themselves, the long haired freaky people who protested Vietnam, or XR of today had it right.
Long story short: Humans self evaluation of how their own cognition develops over time and what caused it ... is in my direct observation, awful.
Worse: I have plenty of 'conversations' with people, where I have zero XR like behaviors and I think I make some progress. (I am pretty sure they disagree that they changed their minds at all, let alone that I caused it)
But (if my perception is accurate) sounds like evidence my non XR like progress is good. BUT I am not at all sure, that Id always be making the same ground if XR had not first furrowed the paddock and made their even be an issue for me to resolve.
I am reminded of the old saying, it takes village to raise a child. Having spent decades interacting with people in denial of varying depths (on various issues) and attempting to move their education dial on the issues, I have not yet seen any evidence any approach is wrong per se. And given the depressing lack of progress overall on AGCC, when what to do has been obvious for so long. I am pretty sure the slowness is due to the 'enemy actions', not any mistakes being made by the good guys.
If non XR like endeavors were the answer, we have decades of that 'not working'

Walking into traps(gotchas, bait and switch, misframing the question (EG VRE must be cheaper than a mythical doesn't exist alternative.) , and limitations of humans due to their tribal nature being exploited against them is where I see the issues and problems lie.
My 2C. It takes a village.