پديد آورندگان :
قاسمي ، وحيد نويسنده دانشيار گروه علوم اجتماعي دانشگاه اصفهان , , ماهر، زهرا نويسنده دانشجوي دكتري جاكعه شناسي دانشگاه اصفهان ,
چكيده لاتين :
Introduction
In the second half of the 1980s, new concerns emerge under the title ‘public understanding of science’. This transition is marked by the influential report of the Royal Society of London of 1985. Like the previous, the diagnosis is that of a public deficit. However, now attitudes to science are fore-grounded. The public does not show sufficient support for science; and this is of concern to scientific institutions. The Royal Society took the view of many of its members and assumed that better knowledge will be the driver of positive attitudes; hence the axiom: ‘the more you know, the more you love it. This research agenda moved away from knowledge to that of attitudes. The concern for scientific literacy carried over to test the expectation ‘the more you know, the more you love it’. However, the emphasis shifted from a threshold measure to that of a continuum: one is not literate or illiterate, but more or less knowledgeable. And the correlation between knowledge and attitude becomes the main focus of research. But the expectation that better knowledge drives positive attitudes is not confirmed. Although overall there may be some relation, on controversial issues there is no correlation at all. Well and less well informed citizens are to be found on either side of the controversy. Social psychology, though not the Royal Society, knows for some time that knowledge it not a driver of attitude, but a quality index: attitudes, whether positive or negative, that are based on knowledge are held more strongly and thus resist change. Well-informed and less well-informed citizens make up their minds differently, but do not necessarily come to different conclusions. PUS research extended its concepts, methods and data. Attitudes to science may be part of general political sophistication, a public resource not specific to science. The polemic over public deficits also stimulated complementary data streams, such as qualitative discourse analyses and mass media monitoring, which reveal long-term trends such as the medicalisation of science news over the last 30 years. PUS had a rationalist and a realist agenda. For the rationalist, attitudes arise from information processing with a rational core. It is assumed that if people had all the information, and were able to understand probabilities, they would be more supportive of science. The battle for the public is a battle for minds with more information and the correct statistical reasoning (i.e. risk perception). For the realist, attitudes are emotional relations with the world. How emotions may relate to rationality is a vexing question. Realists understand emotions with the logic of advertising. Thus, the battle for the public mind becomes a battle for hearts. How to attract public attention? The issue becomes one of ‘sexing up’ evidence. The public is the consumer who is be seduced. In this log, there is little difference between scientific news and washing powder. The critique of PUS again focused on the deficit models of knowledge or attitude: Negative attitudes are neither an expression of lack of knowledge nor of good judgment. However, the attribution of a public deficit expresses the timidity or even ‘institutional neuroticism’ (Brian Wynne), the diffuse anxieties and condescendence of scientific actors vis-à-vis the public. The public deficit model is in fact a self-fulfilling prophecy: the public, a-priori deficient, cannot be trusted. Mistrust on the part of scientific actors will be paid back in kind with public mistrust. Negative public attitudes then confirm the assumption among scientists: the public is not to be trusted. This circularity called for ‘soul searching’ among scientific actors. Aim of the current research is to investigate validity, reliability and normalization of "public understanding of science" scale in Isfahan city.
Matherial & Methods
In the current research, the statical population is comprised of all the residents of Isfahan city . This study is designed as a survey gathered through quota sampling. Data have been analyzed by SPSS and AMOS softwares. Method was Confirmatory Factor Analysis. For determining validity and normalization , 384 participants and for reliability two sample of 40 individuals were chosen.
In this research for determining validity of "public understanding of science" questionnaire, the methods of " Confirmatory Factor Analysis" and "content validity" were used. And for determining reliability of the questionnaire, the consistency coefficients and test-retest reliability were used.
Discussion of Results & Conclusions
Findings showed that the variable public understanding of science has four primary dimensions, including: "interest to the scientific subjects", "knowledge of the scientific concepts", "level of the scientific knowledge" and "attitude toward science and technology", as well as eleven secondary dimensions.
At first, First-order confirmatory factor models were used to validate the measures used for each of the dimensions of public understanding of science. At the end , after eliminating the items with a low factor loading analysis yielded acceptable fit indices:
Fit indices after eliminating the items with a low factor loading
Fit
indices interest in
scientific
subjects Interest
in policy- making Knowledge
Of scientific institutions
and new
sciences Knowledge
of
Environmental
concepts Level
of public knowledge Level
Of
historical knowledge Attitude
Toward
benefits
of
science Attitude
toward
scientists Attitude
toward responsibility
of
governmen Attitude toward
Effect
of
science
on Attitude
toward
Effect of science
on
quality
of
life
CMIN 15/3 21 38/45 77/37 89/6 3/47 83/9 86/2 2/14 2/8 0/26
P 0/95 0/45 0/07 0/20 0/32 0/09 0/07 0/08 0/08 0/24 1/24
CMIN/DF 0/75 1/46 1/42 1/2 1/6 3/4 3/1 2/5 3/1 1/4 1/24
CFI 1 0/93 0/99 0/87 0/96 0/97 0/92 0/84 0/94 0/99 0/99
PCFI 0/78 0/62 0/74 0/52 0/65 0/52 0/64 0/51 0/61 0/48 0/53
RMSEA 0/00 0/05 0/04 0/10 0/04 0/03 0/06 0/09 0/09 0/04 0/04
A good estimate of H-indices was obtained in the Second Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis (2nd –order CFA) conducted on the measure of public understanding of science. In Second Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis (2nd –order CFA), Fit indices showed that specified model confirms by ghathered data :
RMSEA= 0/09 df = 40 Chi-square= 118/1 P= 0/07
CFI= 0/89 PCFI = 0/62 CMIN/D.F =2/9
Reliability was reported to be at the acceptable level with Cronbach ? > 0.7 and test-retest reliability coefficient > 0.69 for all the dimensions of public understanding of science. The total reliability of the questionnaire was also acceptable with Cronbach ? = 0.84 and test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.69. Transformation of raw score of normalizing sample (n=384) into T and Z score and percentiles failed for the norms of questionnaire.
The mean of the standard scores was reported to be zero showing that the distribution of the data has been symmetric. The developed questionnaire in this study, therefore, is valid and reliable and, from now on, can be used in the social studies for the purpose of measuring public understanding of scientific concepts. citizens interest in science and technology is more than average level. the results of the research shows that the majority of citizens have positive attitude toward science and technology , but the level of their scientific knowledge is less than average level.
