Despite recent attacks on the value of science, 73% of Americans still have “a fair amount” or “a … [+] great deal” of confidence that scientists act in the best interest of the public.
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Most Americans continue to have confidence in science and scientists, and that confidence is high relative to other civic, cultural, and governmental institutions. While confidence in institutions overall has fallen a bit during the previous five years, the decline in favorable views of science is similar to or even less than that for other groups.
Those are two main conclusions of a new review — “Trends in U.S. Public Confidence In Science And Opportunities For Progress” — published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS).
Led by Arthur Lupia, a political scientist and Gerald R. Ford Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan, a multi-institutional team of scholars distilled data from several recent, high-quality surveys to describe how the American public viewed the scientific community in general and how their views were influenced by various scientific practices.
Summarizing results from a 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center, the researchers reported that:
73% of Americans have “a fair amount” or “a great deal” of confidence in scientists to act in the best interest of the public;
Medical scientists, in particular, enjoyed high levels of confidence (77%);
Confidence levels for scientists were comparable to those of the military (74%), police officers (69%) and public school principals (65%);
Public confidence in scientists were substantially higher than confidence for religious leaders (53%), journalists (42%), business leaders (35%) and elected officials (24%).
The study also found recent General Social Surveys, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC), yielded similar conclusions when respondents were asked the following question: “I am going to name some institutions in this country. As far as the people running these institutions are concerned, would you say you have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in them?”
The results show that confidence in people running scientific institutions has remained high over the last two decades. Even after a decline in 2022, more than 85% of U.S. adults report having “a great deal” or “some confidence” in the scientific community every year of the survey.
The public’s confidence in science also has real-world consequences. For example, several surveys have examined how personal views of science correspond to people’s willingness to take a life-saving vaccine. Surveys by several organizations have examined this relationship. Consistently they’ve found that trust in health authorities was a significant predictor of individuals’ intention to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Another survey summarized by the researchers was conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. One question on that survey was: “In general, how confident are you that scientists provide the public with trustworthy information about the science in their area of inquiry?”
38% reported they were “very confident,”
46% reported being “somewhat confident,”
14% reported being “not too confident,”
only 2% reported being “not confident at all.”
In addition, over 80% of the sample perceived scientists to be “competent,” 70% to be “trustworthy,” and roughly 65% to be “honest,” “ethical,” and caring about the well-being of others.
However, the public also believes scientists can bring biases to their work. For example, only slightly more than half of survey respondents think scientists protect their conclusions from biases when studying global climate change or Covid-19 vaccines.
When asked whether scientists can “overcome their human and political biases” in general, agreement was even lower; only 8% “strongly agreed” and fewer than half —42% — agreed at any level. To a statement about whether scientists “Do whatever it takes to get grants and publish, even if it means cutting corners,” more respondents agreed than disagreed.
That survey also asked “When a study produces a finding that runs counter to the interests of the organization running the study, which is more likely to happen?” Given the choices of “Scientists will publish the finding” or “Scientists will not publish the finding,” 70% of the sample said scientists will not publish the finding.
At the same time, the public believes scientists can take steps to counteract potential biases. Disclosing a scientists’ funding sources is one such step, as is the willingness to revise conclusions based on new evidence. Eighty-four percent of one survey sample agreed that disclosing funders is important, while 92% indicated that changing minds based on evidence is important.
Other recent studies have confirmed that the public has maintained a generally favorable view of science, despite an intensification of attempts to discredit it, particularly since the pandemic. Even in the face of junk science, political polarization, debunked conspiracy theories, ad hominem attacks and crackpot theories, the majority of the public still trusts the validity and benefits of science to far outweigh its drawbacks and risks.
To maintain that trust, the authors of the PNAS study offer this advice, “the data we have cited suggest that the scientific community’s commitment to core values such as a culture of critique and correction, peer review, acknowledging limitations in data and methods, precise specification of key terms, and faithful accounts of evidence in every step of scientific practice and in every engagement with the public may help sustain confidence in scientific findings.”
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