Developing a Values in Science Scale (VISS)

Dan Hicks (they/them), Emilio Lobato (he/him),
Cosmo Campbell, Joseph Dad (he/him)


University of California, Merced
values-in-science-scale.netlify.app

Controversy and public understanding of science

Explaining public scientific controversies

HPSTSers often explain controversies by appeal to public views on  science, values, and policy issues

But do publics actually hold these views?

(As a gross generalization)

  • Historians focus on actions of scientists or merchants of doubt
  • Sociologists look at particular case studies that don’t necessarily generalize to public at large
  • Philosophers don’t offer empirical evidence at all

Developing a Values in Science Scale (VISS)

VISS items

19 items, drawing especially on the science, values, and policy literature

Aims of science
Conflicts of interest
Consensus
Fallibilism
Inductive risk

Non-subjectivity
Pluralism
Standpoint theory
Value-free ideal

Item example

vfi.1
The evaluation and acceptance of scientific results must not be influenced by social and ethical values.
  • 7-step Likert scale
  • “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”

VISS project

  • Collaboration between a philosopher of science (Dan) and a cognitive scientist (Emilio)
  • Fall 2021: initial development of 36-item quantitative scale
  • January 2024: Cosmo and Joseph, both philosophy majors, brought on as USRs
  • March 2024: focus on 19 items, qualitative surveys to refine wording
  • April 2024
    • Validation study
    • 502 US adults via Prolific
    • VISS + measures of trust in science, science literacy, right-wing authoritarianism

VISS agreement and disagreement

Agreement/disagreement

Agreement/disagreement:
Top & bottom 5

agreement item prompt
top 5
98% aims.1 A primary aim of science is to improve our knowledge and understanding of the world.
90% aims.2 A primary aim of science is to improve our understanding of threats to human health and the environment.
87% coi.2 Special interests can always find a scientist-for-hire who will support their point of view.
86% stdpt Scientists from marginalized backgrounds can provide valuable insights that other scientists are likely to miss.
79% vfi.1 The evaluation and acceptance of scientific results must not be influenced by social and ethical values.
bottom 5
35% vfi.2 Scientists do not use imagination or creativity because doing so interferes with objectivity.
35% fallible.2 When a scientific theory changes or is revised, it means that the research that went into it initially was flawed.
27% consensus.1 The consensus of the scientific community is based on social status and prestige rather than evidence.
8% fallible.1 Once a scientific theory has been established, it is never changed.
6% consensus.2 Scientists never disagree with each other about the answers to scientific questions.

Agreement/disagreement:
Interpretation

In the US, members of the public generally


  • think science has both epistemic and practical aims (Hicks 2022)
  • agree with a version of standpoint’s epistemic advantage thesis (Crasnow 2014)
  • nevertheless, accept VFI

VFI and some critiques

Two statements of VFI

nonsubj.1
When analyzing data, scientists should let the data speak for itself rather than offering their own interpretation.
vfi.1
The evaluation and acceptance of scientific results must not be influenced by social and ethical values.

Four arguments against VFI

aims.2
A primary aim of science is to improve our understanding of threats to human health and the environment.
ir
Scientists should be more cautious about accepting a hypothesis when doing so could have serious social consequences.
stdpt
Scientists from marginalized backgrounds can provide valuable insights that other scientists are likely to miss.
value.conflict
When scientific findings conflict with my core values, it’s appropriate to be especially skeptical.

VFI and some critiques

VFI and some critiques: Interpretation

  • No correlation between statements of VFI and critiques
  • Not:
    Public is irrational, inconsistent, etc.
  • Rather: Dewey model
    • Cultural “scripts,” habitual modes of thought (Dewey [1922] 2008)
    • “Activated” in particular cases for interpretation or meaning-making (Halpern and Elliott 2022)
    • So long as two “scripts” aren’t “activated” in the same context in a way that brings them into conflict, there’s no problematic situation and thus no reason to try to reconcile them (Dewey [1936] 2008; Brown 2020).

VFI items and trust

Measures of generalized trust in science

VFI items and trust

VFI items and trust

  • For both measures, median trust in science is moderately high
  • None of the VFI items is a strong predictor of trust
  • Heterogeneity of correlations:
    some positive, some negative, vfi.1 is almost perfectly flat
  • We plan to analyze this heterogeneity using exploratory causal methods

Future work

Future work

  • VFI & testing “Deweyan model”
  • Relationship between VFI items and politics

VISS items in the context of

  • Dueling expert scenarios
  • Trust in science-policy institutions (EPA) rather than individual scientists or “science” (Brown 2022)
  • Policy support

Prompts

aims.1
A primary aim of science is to improve our knowledge and understanding of the world.
aims.2
A primary aim of science is to improve our understanding of threats to human health and the environment.
aims.3
A primary aim of science is to stimulate economic growth with new technology.
coi.1
Scientists will report conclusions that they think will get them more funding even if the data does not fully support that conclusion.
coi.2
Special interests can always find a scientist-for-hire who will support their point of view.
consensus.1
The consensus of the scientific community is based on social status and prestige rather than evidence.
consensus.2
Scientists never disagree with each other about the answers to scientific questions.
fallible.1
Once a scientific theory has been established, it is never changed.
fallible.2
When a scientific theory changes or is revised, it means that the research that went into it initially was flawed.
ir
Scientists should be more cautious about accepting a hypothesis when doing so could have serious social consequences.
nonsubj.1
When analyzing data, scientists should let the data speak for itself rather than offering their own interpretation.
nonsubj.2
Good scientific research is always free of assumptions and speculation.
pluralism.1
Scientific investigations always require laboratory experiments.
pluralism.3
All scientists use the same strict requirements for determining when empirical data confirms a tested hypothesis.
stdpt
Scientists from marginalized backgrounds can provide valuable insights that other scientists are likely to miss.
value.conflict
When scientific findings conflict with my core values, it’s appropriate to be especially skeptical.
vfi.1
The evaluation and acceptance of scientific results must not be influenced by social and ethical values.
vfi.2
Scientists do not use imagination or creativity because doing so interferes with objectivity.
wait.policy
Public policy should wait until all relevant scientific questions have been settled.

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