‘Follow the Science’: Popular Trust in Scientific Experts During the Coronavirus Pandemic
‘Follow the Science’: Popular Trust in Scientific Experts During the Coronavirus Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic increased the role played by scientific advisers in counselling governments and citizens on issues around public health. This raises questions about how citizens evaluate scientists, and in particular the grounds on which they trust them. Previous studies have identified various factors associated with trust in scientists, although few have systematically explored a range of judgements and their relative effects. This study takes advantage of scientific advisers’ heightened public profile during the pandemic to explore how people’s trust in scientists is shaped by perceptions about their features and traits, along with evaluations of their behaviour and role within the decision-making process. The study also considers people’s trust in politicians, thereby identifying whether trust in scientists reflects similar or distinctive considerations to trust in partisan actors. Data are derived from specially-designed conjoint experiments and surveys of nationally representative samples in Britain and the US.
Seyd, Ben
fb06ef11-63a6-4f09-9588-21c53fa92470
Hamm, Joseph A.
9954ab6f-a7cd-493f-9543-0ab790f93057
Jennings, Will
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
Mckay, Lawrence
4ecf2fd8-3fbf-4a3c-9c22-6856fc1a09be
Valgarðsson, Viktor Orri
8f30ca41-f763-4cd2-9b08-1b4ff7ab27d9
Anness, Meredith
e38da387-5ee8-4379-a96f-02d288f8c9e1
Seyd, Ben
fb06ef11-63a6-4f09-9588-21c53fa92470
Hamm, Joseph A.
9954ab6f-a7cd-493f-9543-0ab790f93057
Jennings, Will
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
Mckay, Lawrence
4ecf2fd8-3fbf-4a3c-9c22-6856fc1a09be
Valgarðsson, Viktor Orri
8f30ca41-f763-4cd2-9b08-1b4ff7ab27d9
Anness, Meredith
e38da387-5ee8-4379-a96f-02d288f8c9e1
Seyd, Ben, Hamm, Joseph A., Jennings, Will, Mckay, Lawrence, Valgarðsson, Viktor Orri and Anness, Meredith
(2024)
‘Follow the Science’: Popular Trust in Scientific Experts During the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Public Understanding of Science.
(In Press)
Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic increased the role played by scientific advisers in counselling governments and citizens on issues around public health. This raises questions about how citizens evaluate scientists, and in particular the grounds on which they trust them. Previous studies have identified various factors associated with trust in scientists, although few have systematically explored a range of judgements and their relative effects. This study takes advantage of scientific advisers’ heightened public profile during the pandemic to explore how people’s trust in scientists is shaped by perceptions about their features and traits, along with evaluations of their behaviour and role within the decision-making process. The study also considers people’s trust in politicians, thereby identifying whether trust in scientists reflects similar or distinctive considerations to trust in partisan actors. Data are derived from specially-designed conjoint experiments and surveys of nationally representative samples in Britain and the US.
Text
Seyd et al - 2024 - accepted version
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 17 April 2024
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 490492
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/490492
ISSN: 0963-6625
PURE UUID: 08c1dd04-db76-4fc9-b650-a3a914a0ff43
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 28 May 2024 17:09
Last modified: 29 May 2024 02:00
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Ben Seyd
Author:
Joseph A. Hamm
Author:
Meredith Anness
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics