A new study has found most respondents trust scientists and agree that scientists should engage more in society, also warning that vocal distrust even among a small minority may affect policymaking.
The paper, involving researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) and La Trobe University among 242 academics, was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour this week.
ANU’s Zoe Leviston said the survey indicated about two-thirds of Aussies said scientists should actively advocate for specific policies, and another 60% should be more involved in the policymaking process.
“Public trust in scientists is vital,” Leviston said.
“It can help us with personal decision making on matters like health and provide evidence-based policymaking to assist governments with crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change.”
The survey of 71,00 people from 68 countries reported no nation with a low trust score towards scientists.
Participants were asked to rank their views on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) about the role they think scientists should play in society.
Researchers then used the responses to measure so-called “established dimensions of trustworthiness” including perceived competence, benevolence, integrity and openness.
Australia and Bangladesh ranked equal fifth, behind Egypt (first), India (second), Nigeria (third), and Kenya (fourth).
Of the survey’s Australian participants, 68% either agreed or strongly agreed that scientists should communicate their findings to politicians.
A total of 80% of Australians said scientists have a responsibility to communicate about science with the general public.
“Globally, 78% of respondents perceive scientists to be qualified, while 57% perceive scientists to be honest,” Leviston added.
The survey further found most people worldwide, except for African and Asian countries, considered scientists were prioritising developing defence and military technologies more than they should be.
The relationship between people’s political views and their trust in scientists was also analysed. In Western countries, people with right-wing political views reported less trust in scientists compared to those with left-wing political views. Australian responses were not consistent with this trend.
La Trobe University’s Mathew Marques explained that having a right-wing versus left-leaning political orientation did not seem to affect trust in science.
“This could mean political polarisation around science is not as much of an issue in Australia as it is for specific scientific issues like climate change,” Marques said.
Participants also highlighted the research areas they believed scientists should prioritise, from most to least important, calling for scientific experts to spend more time improving public health outcomes, developing clean energy technologies and developing innovative solutions to reduce poverty.
Survey responses were collected between November 2022 and August 2023.
READ MORE:
Government releases five new national science priorities
This post was originally published on here
