Jensen, E. A., Jensen, A. M. & Noles, S. (2021). Science in Ireland Barometer 2020 National Survey of Public Attitudes about Science. Science Foundation Ireland: Republic of Ireland.
In 2019, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) commissioned Qualia Analytics to run the 2020 wave of its public science attitudes survey, the SFI Science in Ireland Barometer. As SFI, and the science community in Ireland more broadly, face many layers of decision-making in facilitating the progression of scientific research in Ireland, it is essential for them to understand the views of the people that they seek to benefit with this work: the Irish public. When conducted to high social scientific standards, survey research is the ideal tool to gather important representative insights and enable the Irish scientific community to keep its finger on the pulse of the dynamics underlying the Irish public’s engagement with science. The Barometer also offers SFI the opportunity to assess progress on its goal to have the most engaged and scientifically-informed public globally – a key objective within SFI’s Agenda 2020 strategy.
To address these needs, we ran a survey for two months, from 13th July to 13th September 2020, across a geographically diverse, representative sample of the Irish public, yielding both quantitative and qualitative data for analysis12. This survey covers a range of topics designed to help SFI and the scientific community to monitor the landscape of public attitudes about science. The findings presented in this report offer robust evidence about where Ireland stands in terms of the public’s relationship with science.
