The majority of Germans have an extremely positive attitude towards science and research again this year.

This is shown by a large-scale survey by the non-profit organization Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD).

For example, 62 percent of those surveyed in the “Science Barometer 2022” indicated that they had some or all of their trust in science and research.

Manfred Lindinger

Editor in the department "Nature and Science".

  • Follow I follow

This is a similarly high proportion as in the surveys of the two previous years (2021: 61 percent and 2020: 60 percent).

Before the pandemic, in 2019, the confidence of Germans in science and research was just 46 percent.

According to WiD, general interest in science and research has also remained the same over the past three years at 54 percent.

According to WiD, the results depend heavily on the level of education and the age of the respondents.

The vast majority of respondents with a high level of education express a great interest in science and research (70 percent).

In the group with a medium and low level of education, it is still 47 and 42 percent respectively.

Trust in science and research is highest among younger respondents (71 percent).

Confidence tends to decrease with age.

In the group of over 60-year-olds, only 53 percent state that they trust science and research somewhat or completely.

Similar differences can be observed in all previous surveys of the science barometer.

Interest in research in “health and nutrition” is declining

In addition to recurring questions, such as the reasons for trusting or distrusting scientists or the extent of government investment in research, this year's survey includes questions on the topic of energy supply for reasons of topicality.

61 percent of those questioned stated that they had strong faith in the statements made by scientists on issues relating to the energy supply in Germany.

Less trust is placed in the statements made by companies and industry (22 percent).

Authorities and offices (19 percent), journalists (18 percent) and politicians (13 percent) fare worse.

"Climate and energy" are also the areas in which, according to half of the respondents, research should be carried out most intensively in the future.

In 2019, only 41 percent said they would.

This puts climate and energy well ahead of “health and nutrition” (28 percent).

From 2014 to 2016, health and nutrition were still the top priorities.

This year, research on "mobility and traffic" (7 percent), on "communication and digitization" (6 percent) or on questions of security for the future (7 percent) met with little response.

This year, respondents were also asked about their attitude towards the relationship between science and politics.

Four out of five agreed that scientists should speak out publicly when research results are not considered in policy making.

As in the previous year, 69 percent believe that political decisions should be based on scientific knowledge.

However, this year more people (50 percent) think it's not up to scientists to get involved in politics.

“In the third year of the pandemic, trust in science is still above the level of the years before Corona.

For science communication, it is important to know the reasons for trust and distrust in order to further strengthen trust in science and research and to adequately address skepticism," says Christian Kleinert, Managing Director of Wissenschaft im Dialog.

With the representative survey, Wissenschaft im Dialog has been determining the attitudes of citizens in Germany towards science and research since 2014.

The results of the Science Barometer 2022 are based on 1,037 telephone interviews conducted on September 28 and 29, 2022 as part of an omnibus survey.