Reacción a "The Spanish population trusts science, but demands more communication and citizen engagement, according to FECYT's survey on social perception"

As every two years, we have a new appointment with the Survey on Social Perception of Science and Technology in Spain. Having confirmation of this continuity is extremely positive. It is not common in countries around us, so we are very grateful for the effort and involvement of FECYT.

In a context in which it is increasingly difficult to conduct home interviews, it is positive to know that the study is based on this type of interview. The information available at the time of writing does not provide sociodemographic data. It will be interesting to see whether, despite this being the best method for selecting a sample, there is once again an over-representation of people with higher levels of education. It is increasingly difficult to access people with lower levels of education, who tend to exclude themselves from public opinion surveys.

The results paint a somewhat worrying picture, but one that is in line with what is being detected globally and in many studies: the population values and trusts science as a source of knowledge, but, given the current context, there is a more ambivalent attitude and a certain mistrust regarding its social dimension. It can be said that the results provide evidence that trust in the institution of science is not at its best.

There are several things to highlight:

1. Informational interest has rebounded slightly compared to the previous edition, but remains low. Overall interest remains constant if we look at the average score of the responses. However, the percentage of people who say they are very or quite interested in science has decreased.
2. On the other hand, the percentage of those who say they are not very interested also decreases. Participation in science-related activities declines significantly, especially attendance at outreach activities and participation in citizen science activities. The willingness to get involved in scientific decision-making also declines significantly. And yet, knowledge about the nature of science increases. This is a very positive development, but it seems to indicate that the decline in involvement suggests a greater disconnect between society and science, in line with the previous point. Although there is no excessive interest in information, the population tends to perceive scientific information as insufficient and superficial.
3. This is probably not surprising when we consider that, combined, the main sources of information are social media and online video platforms (although these are not mentioned much as the first choice, they are mentioned as the second choice). I find this a very interesting result, because it perhaps reflects a tendency to demand without giving anything in return, the difficulty of accepting that what we get depends on what we do, that is, the difficulty of accepting our responsibility.
4. People trust scientific research. This is a positive result, but trusting the research that is done is not the same as trusting science as an institution. And, in line with this growing mistrust, the percentage of people who agree that scientists can ‘adjust’ their results to suit the interests of those who fund them is increasing. This result reflects the weight that instrumental science (oriented towards profit) has in the image of science. The percentage of people who totally agree that scientists conduct research for the common good is also falling.
5. In line with the previous point, in the items addressing conspiracy thinking, there is a low prevalence of items more focused on conspiracies, although it is worrying that 41.6% of those interviewed believe that viruses have been produced in government laboratories to control our freedom. However, there is a high level of agreement with statements that show mistrust of the role played by commercial interests in science. Once again, we detect the negative influence of instrumental science. In a globalised context such as ours, this is a result that is detected in many other countries around us, as shown by the last two Eurobarometers on attitudes towards science and technology. On the other hand, in a study carried out by the Science, Technology and Society Research Unit at CIEMAT, we found that 57% of the population somewhat or strongly agree, and 23% strongly agree with the statement: ‘Science that advises politics only serves to justify what politicians want’.

In conclusion, there is a tendency for the population to demand accountability from science, which is accompanied by a lack of involvement with it. This could reflect two issues: 1) as mentioned above, the deterioration of trust in the institution of science; and 2) the lack of ownership, i.e. the feeling that science does not belong to citizens.