The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science recently released the results of an extensive survey of public perception and understanding of science, among other topics. The results varied but the findings that emerged were clear in the fact that information about science is not getting through to the general public. Scientists surveyed cite the media as a major problem with TV coverage as “only fair” or “poor” in getting the message through to the public.
- 76% of scientists say that TV news does not distinguish between well-founded findings and those that are not.
- 48% say that the news media oversimplifies scientific findings.
- 85% say that the public’s lack of science knowledge is a major problem.
The Pew survey administered a 12 question quiz to the public and found that “Americans are knowledgeable about basic scientific facts that affect their health and their daily lives. But the public is less able to answer questions about more complex science topics.” The survey addresses a number of important issues including public and scientist opinions, scientists’ assessment of their field and the state of funding for scientific research, and opinions on controversial topics such as evolution and climate change. To compare your own science knowledge to the general publics’, please visit http://pewresearch.org/sciencequiz/ to take the 12 question quiz!
For the full survey, please visit http://people-press.org/report/528/.
What are your thoughts?
