Executive Summary: Public Attitudes to Science 2019 (PAS 2019)
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Executive Summary Background Public Attitudes to Science 2019 (PAS 2019) is the sixth survey in a series of studies tracking attitudes to science, scientists and science policy among the UK public.
The study was conducted by Kantar, on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Several strands of research were included:
• A literature review conducted by Dr Kevin Burchell which comprised an independent review and synthesis of existing literature, primarily since 2010 (Burchell, 2019).
• A face-to-face survey of 1,749 UK adults aged 16+ carried out in January-April 2019 using a random probability sampling approach. The survey comprised a core section of questions which have been tracked over time, and four topic-focussed modules: ageing society; AI, robots and data; genome editing; micro-pollution and plastics.
• Four waves of online qualitative research using a deliberative digital dialogue process, and 16 face-to-face qualitative group discussions with digitally excluded participants, focussed on four science-related topics (trust in science; AI and healthcare; robotics in the care sector; genomics in food production).
• Four waves of social listening, to track how four different science topics were discussed online over the last two years (veracity of online information; AI in healthcare; robots in the workplace; ocean plastic pollution). This report primarily provides commentary on the findings of the survey.
The full set of publications can be found at Kantar.com/uk-public-attitudes-to-science.
This summary first considers changes over time since the PAS 2014 survey, then provides a high-level summary of the 2019 findings by chapter, and finally discusses trends in relation to the variation in attitudes by demographic subgroups.
How have public attitudes changed over time?
On the whole, between 2014 and 2019, and in some cases over the longer term, people have become more positive in their attitudes towards science and scientists, although there are a few exceptions to this.
In summary: There is a shift in how people access science information from print to online Although people still mainly rely on television for science information, there has been a considerable shift between 2014 and 2019 from print to online.