Data: Public trust in scientists

A new study from the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Sense about Science finds that public trust in scientists is shaped less by judgements around expertise, and more by whether people feel scientists are “on the side of people like them.”

The research – funded by Wellcome, and based on a nationally representative YouGov survey of 4,262 UK adults – finds that trust in scientists is generally high, with only five per cent of the UK public giving an overall trust rating of three-out-of-ten or below while 63 per cent gave seven-out-of-ten or above. But beyond the headline scores there is divergence:

“This does, however, vary significantly by area of specialism and institutional connection, where scientists working in private companies (34% high trust), in government (42%) and on climate (54%) have notably lower levels of trust among the public.”

While only one in ten of those with high trust in scientists agreed that scientists “care more about social and political causes than about scientific progress,” this rose to a quarter of those with middling trust, and 40 per cent of those with low trust.

The survey digs into the causes of mistrust – almost half of the public felt that scientists wouldn’t publish results that their funders would not approve of, while 28 per cent agreed that scientists would ignore evidence which contradict their work and protect other scientists even when they were wrong.

Those with low or middling trust in scientists were also much more likely to agree that “too many scientists just repeat the scientific consensus without thinking for themselves.”

When broken down by political affiliation, the survey found that supporters of Reform UK were much more likely to say that scientists were “in cahoots” with politicians and business: 50 per cent, versus 27 per cent of the public overall. Around half of Reform voters also felt that society should “rely more on common sense than scientific studies.”

When asked how trust in scientists could be improved, the most commonly chosen actions were for scientists to “actively correct misinformation” and to explain how their work improves ordinary people’s lives.

Of those with low trust in scientists, around a third felt that the UK government should reduce the amount of public money it invests in science. But this was a minority opinion across the UK public as a whole – overall, 29 per cent of respondents wanted the government to increase science investment, 36 per cent thought it was about the right level, and only seven per cent thought there should be a reduction in science spending.

The research follows last month’s report from the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) which observed that there were “stark divisions” in public attitudes towards specific R&D areas, with polarisation along party lines towards research investment for certain aspects of science and technology.