Nature paper on 'Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries' - not strictly audio

[MaxwellsEq]

This is not about audio, but it's a survey across 71,922 people in 68 countries on how much people trust scientists or the scientific method. Since this comes up occasionally, I was pleased to see there remains a good trust in science and scientists.

Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries - Nature Human Behaviour

What is the state of trust in scientists around the world? To answer this question, the authors surveyed 71,922 respondents in 68 countries and found that trust in scientists is moderately high.

www.nature.com

 

[MaxwellsEq]

This is not about audio, but it's a survey across 71,922 people in 68 countries on how much people trust scientists or the scientific method. Since this comes up occasionally, I was pleased to see there remains a good trust in science and scientists.

Males are less trusting of science as are conservatives. Older people and those with higher education are more trusting:

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Males are less trusting of science as are conservatives. Older people and those with higher education are more trusting:

In general there is not a strong correlation across the globe between political position (with a nod to the Mods ) and opinions about science

 

[Petrushka]

I don’t think scientists as a class are more trustworthy or less trustworthy.

Viewed over decades, science is self-correcting, but as seen by laymen, as reported by journalists, it’s just politics and marketeering in a tuxedo.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

I don’t think scientists as a class are more trustworthy or less trustworthy.

Viewed over decades, science is self-correcting, but as seen by laymen, as reported by journalists, it’s just politics and marketeering in a tuxedo

... trust in scientists is moderately high (mean trust = 3.62, on a scale from 1 = very low trust to 5 = very high trust... If, as you state as a class they are neither "more trustworthy or less trustworthy", the score would 2.5. In a survey of such a large number of respondents, 3.62 is a significantly positive result, well above a possible error margin. So you may "think scientists as a class are more trustworthy or less trustworthy", but your opinion is not the common one.

 

[kemmler3D]

seen by laymen, as reported by journalists, it’s just politics and marketeering in a tuxedo.

Well, that's your first clue something is wrong, scientists are supposed to wear lab coats, not formalwear.

 

[mhardy6647]

Random grad school-era recollection: My advisor (who wasn't typically very catty) said of a highly respected peer/colleague in our rather small (at least in those days) discipline: He knows exactly the right experiments to do -- and which ones not to do.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Random grad school-era recollection: My advisor (who wasn't typically very catty) said of a highly respected peer/colleague in our rather small (at least in those days) discipline: He knows exactly the right experiments to do -- and which ones not to do.

A wise approach. Seen here quite a lot as well.

 

[SoundsGood64]

I wonder whether this survey could be measuring differences in trust in general across countries, versus scientists specifically, and whether there's anything here that could address that. Also, it would be interesting to know how trust in scientists is related to whether the person surveyed personally knows a scientist.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

In general there is not a strong correlation across the globe between political position (with a nod to the Mods ) and opinions about science

The data is here, for people interested in understanding what information was collected and what it means in detail as well as in summary:

The TISP Dataset

This repository contains the complete, cleaned, and analysis-ready dataset of the TISP project as well as R code and precomputed models supplementing the dataset, survey questionnaires, and additional information materials for the co-authors of the TISP project. Hosted on the Open Science...

osf.io

 

[Owl]

Very difficult to get away from the money issue, whether it's public or private.

 

[RogerSmith]

Surprising results, if countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Bangladesh rank that high, where is the outcome of this? The famous scientist from there, the trickled down technological breakthroughs?

 

[Petrushka]

... trust in scientists is moderately high (mean trust = 3.62, on a scale from 1 = very low trust to 5 = very high trust... If, as you state as a class they are neither "more trustworthy or less trustworthy", the score would 2.5. In a survey of such a large number of respondents, 3.62 is a significantly positive result, well above a possible error margin. So you may "think scientists as a class are more trustworthy or less trustworthy", but your opinion is not the common one.

My statement was not about other people’s opinions. It was about whether I trust pop science and science journalism.

 

[RickS]

Hi folks!

Please let's avoid generalizations and stick to specific comments regarding the OP's study as cited. Thanks.

 

[Cogito]

I trust science, I just struggle to trust the scientists... Especially the federal government ones.

 

[LightninBoy]

This is not about audio, but it's a survey across 71,922 people in 68 countries on how much people trust scientists or the scientific method. Since this comes up occasionally, I was pleased to see there remains a good trust in science and scientists.

Which one is it: trusting scientists or the scientific method? Because those are two very different things.

 

[RickS]

I trust science, I just struggle to trust the scientists... Especially the federal government ones.

Again, please stick to citing something specific or specific to the OP to support your assertions. Thanks!

 

[MattHooper]

The loss of any trust in expertise in general, and scientists in particular, has been one of the most depressing trends. It boggles my mind that this trend only increased during a worldwide pandemic in which scientists were so important in helping us with a way out.

I am not on the side of blaming it on scientist and health officials. Despite some missteps, from what I observed, the mistrust was born much much more of isolated information ecosystems, a growing embracement of contrarianism, conspiracy thinking, anti-expertise and anti-institutionalism, and some very basic scientific illiteracy (“ they changed what they are saying today from what they told us last month… they must’ve been lying last month!).

I’m not at all willing to let people off the hook for their own role in developing a pernicious level of distrust in scientific institutions.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

the mistrust was born much much more of isolated information ecosystems, a growing embracement of contrarianism, conspiracy thinking, anti-expertise and anti-institutionalism, and some very basic scientific illiteracy

My thoughts entirely. It's easy to get swept along by my fears for the future, which is why I found this paper quite uplifting. Scientists and engineers get things wrong all the time - it's literally at the heart of science, learning from mistakes. But despite how this is sometimes represented by bad actors, people still seem to have a better than average opinion of science.

 

[dlaloum]

Surprising results, if countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Bangladesh rank that high, where is the outcome of this? The famous scientist from there, the trickled down technological breakthroughs?

Absence of lobby driven anti-science campaigns? Ranging from creationism through anti-vax etc....

The corrosive impact of such campaigns are simply absent in some countries....