scholarly journals Does Scientific Uncertainty in News Articles Affect Readers’ Trust and Decision-Making?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Hendriks ◽  
Regina Jucks

Even though a main goal of science is to reduce the uncertainty in scientific results by applying ever-improving research methods, epistemic uncertainty is an integral part of science. As such, while uncertainty might be communicated in news articles about climate science, climate skeptics have also exploited this uncertainty to cast doubt on science itself. We performed two studies to assess whether scientific uncertainty affects laypeople’s assessments of issue uncertainty, the credibility of the information, their trust in scientists and climate science, and impacts their decision-making. In addition, we addressed how these effects are influenced by further information on relevant scientific processes, because knowing that uncertainty goes along with scientific research could ease laypeople’s interpretations of uncertainty around evidence and may even protect against negative impacts of such uncertainty on trust. Unexpectedly, in study 1, after participants read both a text about research methods and a news article that included scientific uncertainty, they had lower trust in the scientists’ assertions than when they read the uncertain news article alone (but this did not impact trust in climate science or decision-making). In study 2, we tested whether these results occurred due to participants overestimating the scientific uncertainty at hand. Hence, we varied the framing of uncertainty in the text on scientific processes. We found that exaggerating the scientific uncertainty produced by scientific processes (vs. framing the uncertainty as something to be expected) did not negatively affect participants’ trust ratings. However, the degree to which participants preferred effortful reasoning on problems (intellective epistemic style) correlated with ratings of trust in scientists and climate science and with their decision-making. In sum, there was only little evidence that the introduction of uncertainty in news articles would affect participants’ ratings of trust and their decision-making, but their preferred style of reasoning did.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 100237
Author(s):  
Luise J. Fischer ◽  
Heini Wernli ◽  
David N. Bresch

Author(s):  
Maria Uhl ◽  
Ricardo R. Santos ◽  
Joana Costa ◽  
Osvaldo Santos ◽  
Ana Virgolino ◽  
...  

Over the last few decades, citizen awareness and perception of chemical products has been a topic of interest, particularly concerning national and international policy decision makers, expert/scientific platforms, and the European Union itself. To date, few qualitative studies on human biomonitoring have analysed communication materials, made recommendations in terms of biomonitoring surveillance, or asked for feedback in terms of specific biomonitoring methods. This paper provides in-depth insight on citizens’ perceptions of knowledge of biomonitoring, impact of chemical exposure on daily life, and claims on how results of research should be used. Four semi-structured focus groups were held in Austria, Portugal, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (UK). The cross-sectional observational qualitative design of this study allows for better understanding of public concern regarding chemicals, application, and use of human biomonitoring. The main findings of this study include citizens’ clear articulation on pathways of exposure, the demand on stakeholders for transparent decision-making, and sensitivity in communication of results to the public. Validated and trustful communication is perceived as key to empowering citizens to take action. The results can be used to facilitate decision-making and policy development, and feeds into the awareness needs of similar and future projects in human biomonitoring. Furthermore, it also brings to light ideas and concepts of citizens’ in shaping collaborative knowledge between citizens’, experts, scientists, and policy makers on equal terms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy A. Otieno ◽  
Fauzia A. Malik ◽  
Stacy W. Nganga ◽  
Winnie N. Wairimu ◽  
Dominic O. Ouma ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Maternal immunization is a key strategy for reducing morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases in mothers and their newborns. Recent developments in the science and safety of maternal vaccinations have made possible development of new maternal vaccines ready for introduction in low- and middle-income countries. Decisions at the policy level remain the entry point for maternal immunization programs. We describe the policy and decision-making process in Kenya for the introduction of new vaccines, with particular emphasis on maternal vaccines, and identify opportunities to improve vaccine policy formulation and implementation process. Methods We conducted 29 formal interviews with government officials and policy makers, including high-level officials at the Kenya National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, and Ministry of Health officials at national and county levels. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. We analyzed the qualitative data using NVivo 11.0 software. Results All key informants understood the vaccine policy formulation and implementation processes, although national officials appeared more informed compared to county officials. County officials reported feeling left out of policy development. The recent health system decentralization had both positive and negative impacts on the policy process; however, the negative impacts outweighed the positive impacts. Other factors outside vaccine policy environment such as rumours, sociocultural practices, and anti-vaccine campaigns influenced the policy development and implementation process. Conclusions Public policy development process is complex and multifaceted by its nature. As Kenya prepares for introduction of other maternal vaccines, it is important that the identified policy gaps and challenges are addressed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Thomsen ◽  
K. Muir ◽  
J. Davies

Kangaroos are culturally significant to Aboriginal people but Aboriginal people are generally not involved in kangaroo management or in the kangaroo industry. Our research has provided the first opportunity for Aboriginal people in South Australia to present their perspectives on the commercial harvest of kangaroos. Research methods were qualitative, involving consultations with authoritative Aboriginal people about their perspectives, aspirations, and how they see their rights and interests in relation to the commercial harvest of kangaroos. We found diverse views on this topic from Aboriginal research participants. For some Aboriginal people, strict cultural protocols preclude any involvement in the commercial harvest, but for people from other regions where the cultural laws concerning kangaroos are quite different, there is interest in developing enterprises based on kangaroo harvest. Despite the diversity of views about commercial kangaroo harvest, Aboriginal people across South Australia highly value kangaroos, and want to be included in decision-making processes for kangaroo management. There is potential for appropriate engagement of Aboriginal people in kangaroo management through improved communication, greater understanding and respect for the diversity of Aboriginal perspectives and protocols regarding native wildlife.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3585
Author(s):  
Dariusz Masłowski ◽  
Małgorzata Dendera-Gruszka ◽  
Ewa Kulińska

In the current era of urban development, people are already using electric vehicles more and more often for transport purposes, which reduces negative impacts on the environment. However, there are still vehicles in towns and cities that run on ordinary internal combustion engines. Performing optimization measures on the operation of these vehicles improves their performance, which can result in positive sustainable development effects. This article presents measures to reduce the wear and tear of urban vehicles and outlines a decision model to determine which of the vehicle parts described suffer the most frequent wear and tear under urban conditions. The article presents a list of structural elements that are most affected by urban traffic, as well as corrective actions to improve such specialized vehicles. Based on the decision analysis, Rule 1 was eliminated as having the least significant impact on vehicle wear and tear, and the least significant impact on urban safety. On the other hand, the most worn-out elements were found to be gearboxes, clutches, bus levelling electronics, and brake pads and discs. The decision-making model made it possible to identify the factors which have the greatest impact on reducing safety in urban spaces.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-142
Author(s):  
Anggita Rachmanantya ◽  
Sari Wahyuni ◽  
Andi Nurrohman ◽  
Anansya Ralia ◽  
Aniek Martono

Leaders are very important for organizations and businesses. The various characters of leaders can determine the success of an organization due to their role and responsibility for planning, organizing, and decision-making of organizational strategies to achieve their goals. One of the leaders whose characteristic is quite interesting and possibly become our role models is Larry Page, a co-founder of Google Inc. The researchers used qualitative research methods by descriptive research in explaining Larry Page style of leadership in leading Google Inc. Result of this study shows that Larry Page has a very open and equal way of leading, making him a democratic and transformational leader for an instance Larry believe in crazy ideas of their employees since he believes that insane ideas could change the world whereas not all the leaders can trust their subordinate. To hear the ideas, Larry always encourages his subordinate to speak up at every opportunity and instantly give them constructive feedback.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin K. Peavey ◽  
Jason Zoss ◽  
Nicholas Watkins

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Hester

When dealing with complex systems, all decision making occurs under some level of uncertainty. This is due to the physical attributes of the system being analyzed, the environment in which the system operates, and the individuals which operate the system. Techniques for decision making that rely on traditional probability theory have been extensively pursued to incorporate these inherent aleatory uncertainties. However, complex problems also typically include epistemic uncertainties that result from lack of knowledge. These problems are fundamentally different and cannot be addressed in the same fashion. In these instances, decision makers typically use subject matter expert judgment to assist in the analysis of uncertainty. The difficulty with expert analysis, however, is in assessing the accuracy of the expert's input. The credibility of different information can vary widely depending on the expert’s familiarity with the subject matter and their intentional (i.e., a preference for one alternative over another) and unintentional biases (heuristics, anchoring, etc.). This paper proposes the metric of evidential credibility to deal with this issue. The proposed approach is ultimately demonstrated on an example problem concerned with the estimation of aircraft maintenance times for the Turkish Air Force.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Kvam ◽  
Jerome R Busemeyer ◽  
Timothy Joseph Pleskac

Contemporary theories of choice posit that decision making is a constructive process in which a decision maker uses information about the choice options to generate support for various decisions and judgments, then uses these decisions and judgments to reduce their uncertainty about their own preferences. Here we examine how these constructive processes unfold by tracking dynamic changes in preference strength. Across two experiments, we observed that mean preference strength oscillated over time and found that eliciting a choice strongly affected the pattern of oscillation. Preferences following choices oscillated between being stronger than those without prior choice (bolstering) and being weaker than those without choice (suppression). An open system model, merging epistemic uncertainty about how a person reacts to options and ontic uncertainty about how their preference is affected by choice, accounts for the oscillations resulting in both bolstering and suppression effects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Putri Fathia Fadilla ◽  
Sri Muliati Abdullah ◽  
Mingchang Wu

Students between ages 13 to 18 years old are exposed to have career development assignments of life focused on the education field such as choosing majors or career fields. Students see career decision making is always accompanied by feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and even stress. In the end, students make their choice on careers by just following the decisions of their peers, which is not necessarily the right decision for them. Their decision taken can lead to career success. The purpose of this study to determine the effect of the conformity of students' decision making for their careers. The quantitative research methods are used where the samples are 136 students of class XII. Data are obtained from the Likert scale instrument and analyzed using regression analysis. The result shows there is influence between conformity and students’ decision making for their career. The findings of the research are the categorization score of conformity is in high category with 60.29%, while the variable of career decision making is in the low category with 54.41%. Thus, the coefficient value is -0.573 (p<0.01) with an effective contribution of 32.9% and the remaining is 67.1% is determined by other variables, which are not considered in this research. This shows that the higher of conformity, so the lower of career decision making in the class XII students. Hence, this study is essential to provide a view on the importance of career decision making abilities that will affect the students' future.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document