Public trust in science: the Dutch case Survey Monitor 2018 Jos de - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Public trust in science: the Dutch case

Survey Monitor 2018 Jos de Jonge and Nelleke van den Broek-Honingh

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 1

• About the Rathenau Instituut
• Short history and methodology
• Results:
• Trust in science
• How are scientists perceived?
• Trust in cooperation?
• Conclusions

Content

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 2

• Founded in 1986
• Funded mostly by the Ministry of Education
• Independant institute
• Mission: stimulates public and political opinion forming on social aspects
• f science and technology.
• We perform research and organize debate relating to science, innovation

and new technologies. Rathenau Instituut

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 3

• Incidents integrity of university professors
• Broadly presented in the media
• Academic world, journalists and politicians telling the same; as we all

know trust in science is getting worse and worse

• Is this true?; let’s investigate
• Survey among the general public, over 800 respondents
• Carefully represented in terms of age, cultural and economic background,

gender, educational level, and urban/rural

• Surveys held in 2012, 2015 and 2018

Short history and methodology

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 4

Trust in science in general

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 5

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 6

Trust among different groups

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 7

• Higher education -> higher trust
• Lower education -> lower trust
• No correlation with age and political preference
• People with more knowledge of science on average higher trust
• The same for people who come in contact with science

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 8

• Open question associate with ‘science’
• Most of their associations are either positive or neutral.
• Mentioned most frequently are such words as study/studies, knowledge,

progress and university.

• The number of negative associations is small (below 2%).
• Results are quite similar in 2012, 2015 and 2018

Associations

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 9

The public trust in science seems to remain (relatively) high and stable

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 10

Vetenskap & Allmänhet, Barometer 2018/19 Wissenschaft im Dialog, science barometer 2018

Are scientists perceived as competent, reliable and honest?

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 11

Are scientists perceived as competent?

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 12

Are scientists perceived as reliable?

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 13

Are scientists perceived as honest?

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 14

Trust in cooperation between science and government/business?

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 15

Trust in cooperation between science and government/business?

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 16

Trust in cooperation between science and government/business?

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 17

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 18

• Trust in science is relatively high and stable
• The majority of the Dutch think that scientists:
• work very carefully
• are experts in their field
• are trustworthy even though they often disagree with each other
• are objective and independent in their work
• Views change as soon as scientists work for government or businesses
• Most Dutch believe government and businesses
• will only use research results when it supports their own ideas
• and will try to obstruct unwanted results
• Follow up research: focus groups

Conclusions

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 19

Questions? Contact information: n.vandenbroekhoningh@rathenau.nl Research report: https://www.rathenau.nl/en/knowledge-ecosystems/trust- science-netherlands Thank you for your attention!

Public trust in science: the Dutch case 20