Article archive / March 1, 2015
Originally published: . Volume 6, No. 3. Source pages: 8.
Pew Finds 87 Percent of Scientists Agree with Taking Active Role in Public Debate about Science/Technology
In a survey of 3,748 American-based scientists connected with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Pew Research found that 87 percent agree with the statement “Scientists should take an active role in public policy debates about issues related to science and technology.”
Just 13 percent of these scientists back the opposite statement: “Scientists should focus on establishing sound scientific facts and stay out of public policy debates.”
Most scientists see an interested public according to Pew. As many as 71 percent of AAAS scientists believe the public has either some or a lot of interest in their specialty area. And, a fair number of scientists believe careers can be advanced by media coverage of their work and social media use, said Pew: 43 percent of AAAS scientists say it is important or very important for scientists in their specialty to get coverage of their work in news media. At the same time, most scientists believe that science news coverage can pose problems for science.
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