A study by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country
highlights the difficulties in communicating science to the general public.
According to the thesis by PhD holder Claudia
Loaiza-Escutia, written up in the UVP/EHU's Department of Logic and Philosophy
of Science, European scientists have difficulty connecting with the general
public and journalists. The causes of
these difficulties are, above all, the lack of institutional support, pressures
of work, and not having any training in communication.
The study by Claudia Loaiza stands out because not only does
it include quantitative information on scientists' preferences, commitments,
limitations and incentives to interact with members of the public, it also
gathers together an abundant, rich selection of unprocessed individual comments
expressed by the scientists in face to face interviews. "Other similar
studies are based on surveys over the phone or the Internet," explains
Loaiza. "Yet I've had the chance to hold personal interviews with all my
interviewees, and that has enabled me to gather qualitative information which
would otherwise be lost."