Research on public attitudes and understanding of basic science

As science pushes the boundaries of knowledge, broad public dialogues often do not emerge as early in the life cycles of new scientific discoveries and technologies as they could. Public discussion is often hampered by disconnects between what scientists and various publics see as relevant issues, considerations, and benefits or what kinds of value-based concerns are considered relevant or consistent with discovery-driven science and emerging areas of basic science related to existing applications, such as artificial intelligence.

“A more systematic understanding of public values, risk perceptions, and understandings of emerging basic science is needed and could lead to better policy guidance for emerging science. It can also inform more effective and responsible research and development,” remarked Dietram Scheufele, John E. Ross Chaired Professor, Department of Life Sciences Communication at University of Wisconsin. “Without a systematic understanding of the concerns, excitement, or hope that different publics are expressing, scientists (and thereby science) run the risk of providing the right answers to all the wrong questions.”

With support from The Kavli Foundation, Todd Newman and Dietram Scheufele of the Science, Media, and the Public (SCIMEP) Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will conduct a systemic assessment of what is and is not known in existing literature on how the public thinks about current and potential applications within the fields of neuroscience, gene editing, big data, and AI. The report will also include an overview of the societal implications of these technologies from the perspectives of publics, including what applications are most salient across what topics and fields, and the ethical and moral concerns that are most relevant.

The importance of understanding various publics’ views is critical given that the questions the scientific community thinks are most important may be misaligned with empirical realities. In their research Newman and Scheufele will highlight a few past and existing venues that have successfully navigated this complex landscape of public attitudes and perceptions of science issues, and how existing and ongoing research in the social sciences is relevant and useful for scientists and science communicators in these different disciplines.