Study title

The Science Barometer Switzerland analyzes through which media, in which form and how often the Swiss come in contact with scientific issues, and whether and how this affects their scientific knowledge as well as their opinions regarding science. The project surveys a representative sample of the language-assimilated resident population of Switzerland every three years (2016, 2019, 2022), interviewing ca. 1000 respondents aged 15 years and older in the German-, French-, and Italian-speaking regions of the country. It is planned to continue the project permanently after 2022. On the one hand, the survey gathers information about the usage of different information sources, asking how often respondents encounter scientific issues in newspapers, radio and television, and how often they look for scientific issues on the internet and in social media. Furthermore, it asks how often the Swiss go to science museums, as well as how often they speak about scientific topics with family and friends. In addition, it assesses how credible, comprehensible and useful respondents judge these different sources of information. On the other hand, the Science Barometer Switzerland measures the Swiss’ scientific knowledge and their attitudes towards science. Based on these dimensions, it connects patterns of information behavior and public opinions about science in explanatory models. In November 2020, a special Science Barometer survey on COVID-19 was conducted in the form of an online representative survey of Swiss residents aged 15 or older. It was financed by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences.