MATTHEW H. SLATER
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Trusting and Understanding Science

What is scientific literacy?

PictureAdapted from Kahan (2015)
Defined just as knowledge of particular scientific facts (say, about the size of atoms or how medical trials are done), it greater scientific literacy/comprehension does not predict greater trust in consensus science or concern about issues that are matters of high scientific consensus, like human-caused climate change (see Kahan 2015). But this is far from the only way of thinking about scientific literacy.

This project is an attempt to create a measure of a more social conception of scientific literacy (or "the understanding of science") that focuses on the the social structure of science.

Our preliminary data — using a draft of such a measure, the Social Structure of Science Index (or SSSI) — suggests that people who enjoy greater degrees of this understanding are more willing to trust consensus science and that this sort of understanding admits of less political polarization than do comparable measures. Before we attempt to replicate this result with a large, nationally-representative survey, we need to refine and validate the SSSI.

We need your help! >> Tell us what you think of the survey.
​We are particularly interested in whether the questions make sense, are not ambiguous, and that the acceptable/correct answers in fact seem to you acceptable — as general matters, anyway (there will always be exceptions to our generalizations). As an incentive, you may enter a drawing for one of two $25 Starbucks gift cards once you have completed the survey.

> For other projects / papers in progress, see here.

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  • Home
  • Teaching
    • Current and Future Courses >
      • PHIL 103: Logic
    • Previous Courses >
      • RESC 098: Revolutions in Scientific Understanding
      • PHIL 100: Philosophy in Film
      • PHIL 100: Belief & Reality
      • UNIV 200: Climate Change
      • PHIL 201: Symbolic Logic
      • PHIL 220: Philosophy of Science
      • PHIL 222: Analytic Philosophy
      • PHIL 224: Epistemology
      • PHIL 268: Science in the Public Eye
      • PHIL 272: Philosophy of Biology
      • PHIL 311: Socializing Epistemology
    • Student Resources >
      • Writing Resources
      • Presentation Advice
      • Recommendations
    • Calendar
  • Research
    • Books >
      • Are Species Real?
      • The Nature of Biological Kinds
    • Published & Forthcoming
    • Current Projects
    • The Production of Public Understanding of Science
  • Personal
  • Photography
  • Blog