This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (7) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Pardo, R. Articles by Calvo, F. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Cognitive Dimension of Public Perceptions of Science: Methodological Issues

Spanish National Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Fundación BBVA, rpardo{at}fbbva.es

Félix Calvo

University of Deusto in Spain

The cognitive dimension of public perceptions of science is a central component of the interdisciplinary field devoted to their study. The subset of this dimension that has received the most attention is the one known as scientific literacy (SL), and particularly scientific knowledge of the "know-what" type. People’s appropriation of scientific theories of the world and also of the inner workings of scientific practice is of interest in itself and also for its role in explaining—in interaction with other variables—public attitudes toward science. Despite its significance, the understanding of science has received progressively less attention since the late 1990s. This paper reviews the substantive characteristics and formal properties of the scale of SL most widely used in the literature, which has been constructed on the basis of Eurobarometer measurements. It considers a number of steps, such as content, item analysis, and differential reliability, both for the total sample and for different nations and social groups, that are usually omitted in the literature. This new analysis shows that the standard SL test barely achieves satisfactory metric properties and that although it captures major (but not fine-grained) differences in SL by nation and sociodemographic groups, it is in need of significant theoretical and formal improvements. Our analysis also shows that a well-known thesis in the literature, the so-called "knowledge-ignorance paradox," rests on a statistical misinterpretation of the data.

Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 13, No. 3, 203-227 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0963662504045002


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Sturgis, N. Allum, and P. Smith An Experiment on the Measurement of Political Knowledge in Surveys Public Opin Q, March 1, 2008; 72(1): 90 - 102. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Allum, P. Sturgis, D. Tabourazi, and I. Brunton-Smith Science knowledge and attitudes across cultures: a meta-analysis Public Understanding of Science, January 1, 2008; 17(1): 35 - 54. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. Pardo and F. Calvo Mapping Perceptions of Science in End-of-Century Europe Science Communication, September 1, 2006; 28(1): 3 - 46. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. A. Yaros Is It the Medium or the Message? Structuring Complex News to Enhance Engagement and Situational Understanding by Nonexperts Communication Research, August 1, 2006; 33(4): 285 - 309. [Abstract] [PDF]

				F. C. von Roten Do we need a public understanding of statistics? Public Understanding of Science, April 1, 2006; 15(2): 243 - 249. [Abstract] [PDF]