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 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 Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Allum, N. Articles by Brunton-Smith, I. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Science knowledge and attitudes across cultures: a meta-analysis

Quantitative Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, n.allum{at}surrey.ac.uk

Patrick Sturgis

Quantitative Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Surrey

Dimitra Tabourazi

Centre for Research into the Older Workforce, University of Surrey

Ian Brunton-Smith

University of Surrey, in collaboration with the UK Home Office

The correlation between knowledge and attitudes has been the source of controversy in research on the public understanding of science (PUS). Although many studies, both quantitative and qualitative, have examined this issue, the results are at best diverse and at worst contradictory. In this paper, we review the evidence on the relationship between public attitudes and public knowledge about science across 40 countries using a meta-analytic approach. We fit multilevel models to data from 193 nationally representative surveys on PUS carried out since 1989. We find a small positive correlation between general attitudes towards science and general knowledge of scientific facts, after controlling for a range of possible confounding variables. This general relationship varies little across cultures but more substantially between different domains of science and technology. Our results suggest that PUS research needs to focus on understanding the mechanisms that underlie the clear association that exists between knowledge and attitudes about science.

Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 17, No. 1, 35-54 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0963662506070159


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

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. C. Nisbet and D. A. Scheufele What's next for science communication? Promising directions and lingering distractions Am. J. Botany, October 1, 2009; 96(10): 1767 - 1778. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Stares Using Latent Class Models to Explore Cross-national Typologies of Public Engagement with Science and Technology in Europe Science Technology and Society, July 1, 2009; 14(2): 289 - 329. [Abstract] [PDF]