Measuring Trust in Science and Scientists: A Systematic Scoping Review

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Research on Science Teaching, Teaching Efficacy, and Trust in Science (Table 10)

Abstract

Lower trust in science and/or scientists is a possible barrier to revising beliefs about consequential scientific topics. However, trust in science and scientific consensus may have a distinct role separate from trust in the scientists themselves. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review to explore operationalizations and related conceptualizations of trust and science and scientists, with the aim of identifying studies where trust in science and/or scientists was assessed with quantitative self-report measures. Expected findings include variations in definitions and measurement of trust in science and trust in scientists. To advance the research of trust in science and scientists, more attention should be put into clarifying the concept in terms of its generalizability and specificity.

Author

• Victoria Johnson, University of Minnesota