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 towards 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 contained questions on cognitive attitudes such as informedness and the information behaviour 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 respect. 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; opinion on corona (being informed about corona, dealing with what is happening around corona, current measures on corona are appropriate); trust in statements of different actors on corona (scientists, doctors and medical staff, politicians, representatives of authorities and offices, journalists, relatives, acquaintances and friends); information behaviour on the topic of new developments on corona from science and research (on television including media library, on radio including audio library, in newspapers and magazines including online editions, on official websites of authorities, offices and research institutions on the Internet, online in social networks); perceived scientific disciplines or research areas as sources of information for Corona (open);...