Study title

Every year since 2014, Wissenschaft im Dialog has been using the Science Barometer to collect representative data on the attitudes of German citizens toward science and research. The aim is to contribute to a fact-based discourse on the relationship between science and the public and to targeted science communication by collecting, processing the data and communicating the results. Against the background of scientific policy advice and publicly communicating researchers in the context of the corona pandemic (COVID-19), two surveys were conducted in spring 2020 in addition to the annual surveys. The questionnaire of these special corona surveys included questions on cognitive attitudes such as informedness and the information behavior of the respondents on corona-related topics from science and research. In addition, evaluative attitudes were collected on issues such as trust, assessment of the benefits of science in combating the corona pandemic and the political role of research in this regard. The science barometer Corona Special is a project of Wissenschaft im Dialog. It is sponsored and supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Topics: Trust in science and research; agreement on statements about science and research in the context of corona (political decisions on corona should be based on scientific findings; most scientists make a clear distinction between confirmed findings and unanswered questions about corona). Demographics: sex; age; education; occupation; household size; children under 14 years of age in the household; net household income; party preference. Additionally coded: Interview no.; interview duration (in seconds); weight; city size (BIK); federal state; region.