Science in Society: Re-Evaluating the Deficit Model of Public Attitudes

TLDR

The deficit model of public attitudes toward science has sparked controversy over how scientific knowledge shapes lay attitudes. The study challenges the prevailing orthodoxy linking the deficit model with quantitative methods and contextualist perspectives with qualitative methods. The authors simultaneously test hypotheses from both approaches using quantitative methods. Results show that knowledge is a key determinant of attitudes toward science, but also reveal a complex, interacting knowledge‑attitude interface beyond the simplistic deficit model.

Abstract

The “deficit model” of public attitudes towards science has led to controversy over the role of scientific knowledge in explaining lay people’s attitudes towards science. In this paper we challenge the de facto orthodoxy that has connected the deficit model and contextualist perspectives with quantitative and qualitative research methods respectively. We simultaneously test hypotheses from both theoretical approaches using quantitative methodology. The results point to the clear importance of knowledge as a determinant of attitudes toward science. However, in contrast to the rather simplistic deficit model that has traditionally characterized discussions of this relationship, this analysis highlights the complex and interacting nature of the knowledge— attitude interface.