Scientific issues are increasingly present in policy-making and politics. From global challenges to local policies, several issues require solid scientific advice. However, there is often a disconnect between the scientific consensus (ex. climate change, vaccine safety) and the public’s opinion. This has been associated with poor risk perception (wrongly assumed to be too high in the case of vaccination and too low in the case of the climate) and to scepticism towards the scientific community. This has clear implications for risk analysis and communication.
Here, we present an analysis of different factors that correlate with generally more positive or more negative attitudes towards science (ATS). We expect that an identification of such factors can lead to better understanding of the drivers behind public behaviour(s) and to more informed decision-making.
We analysed a large dataset compiled from all “Science and Technology Eurobarometers (STE)”, spanning from 1989 to 2005, and comprising nearly 85000 surveys in 30 countries. First, we analysed the responses to each individual survey to characterize a set of ATS. This follows the ongoing discussion around the traditional assumption that high scientific literacy should lead to a positive ATS. Different factor analysis confirmed previous studies and showed no basis for the establishment of a single consistent measurement of attitude. However, knowledge does correlate positively with several attitude(s), some with high dependence. Second, we expand this analysis to include other variables in the STE dataset, such as self-reported levels of information on different subjects.
Third, and to explore possible good predictors, we repeated the above analysis with the responses grouped by country and by year. We then added a second independent set, composed mostly of economic and policy indicators, from the different countries included in the STE. We found the expected correlations between GDP, investment in education, and scientific literacy. We also identified country groupings that go beyond these simple relationships.
Interestingly, we found a connection between ATS and politics, both at the individual and country levels: the more engaged in politics, the more likely it is for the individual/country to show a generally positive attitude.
To confirm this correlation, we performed a directed survey, in Portugal. Different attitudes towards different science-related subjects, involving some sort of public controversy, were assessed. These attitudes were compared to self-reported levels of political interest and engagement to show that, indeed, there is a correlation between interest in politics and attitude, regardless of political affiliation.