The Study conducted across 68 countries shows that people still trust scientists: global insights from the largest post-pandemic survey on trust in scientists.
An international team of 241 scientists, led by Viktoria Cologna, PhD (Harvard University, ETH Zurich) and Niels G. Mede, PhD (University of Zurich), investigated the level of trust in scientists across 68 different countries. Mariola Paruzel-Czachura, PhD, Associate Professor, and Katarzyna Pypno-Blajda, MA, a doctoral student from the Institute of Psychology represented the University of Silesia.
Despite the often repeated claims of a crisis of trust in science, their findings, published in Nature Human Behaviour, show that most people in most countries have relatively high levels of trust in scientists. In addition, most of the study subjects think that scientists should get more involved in social life and decision processes.
This study is the result of the TISP Many Labs project – a collaborative effort that allowed the authors to survey 71,922 people in 68 countries, including many under-researched countries, the so-called ‘Global South’.
Key results
Widespread trust:
In 68 countries, the majority of the public has a relatively high level of trust in scientists (average trust level = 3.62 on a scale from 1 = very low trust to 5 = very high trust). Most respondents also believe that scientists are qualified (78%), honest (57%) and concerned about the well-being of others (56%).
Involvement of scientists:
Most participants support science taking an active role in society and decision-making processes. Globally, 83% of respondents believe that scientists should communicate about science with the public. Only a minority (23%) think that scientists should not actively advocate for specific policies. 52% believe that scientists should be more involved in policy-making processes.
However, the results confirm previous research indicating significant differences between countries and social groups. In particular, it was found that in Western countries, people with right-wing political views trust scientists less than those with left-wing views. However, in most countries, political leaning was not related to the level of trust in scientists.
Challenges and recommendations
The results also highlight some areas of concern. Globally, less than half of respondents (42%) feel that scientists take into account the opinions of others. The results also show that many people in many countries feel that the priorities of science do not always align with their own. Participants assigned high priorities to research on improving public health, solving energy problems and reducing poverty. Research on developing defence and military technologies received a lower priority. Furthermore, participants clearly believe that science prioritises defence and military technology development more than they would like.
The authors recommend that scientists take these results seriously, find ways to be more open to and inclusive of public opinion, and consider ways to reach out to conservative groups in Western countries. In the long term, researchers should consider their role in setting priorities that are in line with societal values.
In addition to publishing the results in a peer-reviewed scientific article, the authors also created an interactive data visualisation dashboard where users can explore the results and compare them across countries: https://www.tisp-manylabs.com/
