Dr. Niels G. Mede - Are science communication audiences becoming more

Journal article

Kira Klinger, Julia Metag, Mike S. Schäfer, Tobias Füchslin, Niels G. Mede
Public Understanding of Science, vol. 31, 2022, pp. 553-562

DOI: 10.1177/09636625211057379

Cite

APA Click to copy
Klinger, K., Metag, J., Schäfer, M. S., Füchslin, T., & Mede, N. G. (2022). Are science communication audiences becoming more critical? Reconstructing migration between audience segments based on Swiss panel data. Public Understanding of Science, 31, 553–562. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625211057379

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Klinger, Kira, Julia Metag, Mike S. Schäfer, Tobias Füchslin, and Niels G. Mede. “Are Science Communication Audiences Becoming More Critical? Reconstructing Migration between Audience Segments Based on Swiss Panel Data.” Public Understanding of Science 31 (2022): 553–562.

MLA Click to copy
Klinger, Kira, et al. “Are Science Communication Audiences Becoming More Critical? Reconstructing Migration between Audience Segments Based on Swiss Panel Data.” Public Understanding of Science, vol. 31, 2022, pp. 553–62, doi:10.1177/09636625211057379.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{klinger2022a,
  title = {Are science communication audiences becoming more critical? Reconstructing migration between audience segments based on Swiss panel data},
  year = {2022},
  journal = {Public Understanding of Science},
  pages = {553-562},
  volume = {31},
  doi = {10.1177/09636625211057379},
  author = {Klinger, Kira and Metag, Julia and Schäfer, Mike S. and Füchslin, Tobias and Mede, Niels G.}
}

Over the past years, pundits, journalists, and others have diagnosed fundamental shifts in the public’s perception of science. Many of them have posited that audiences are becoming more critical toward science or that people trust science less. However, systematic empirical analyses of such assertions are lacking. Based on panel survey data (N = 339) and segmentation analysis, we investigate migration between four segments of the Swiss population over 3 years. We find that 45% of participants changed their attitude between 2016 and 2019 to such an extent that they got assigned to a more positive or more critical audience segment. The majority of them migrated to more critical segments, which is in line with assumptions of fundamental shifts in the public’s perception of science.