University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
Public Underst Sci. 2016 Jan;25(1):61-70. doi: 10.1177/0963662514521542. Epub 2014 Feb 27.
In public controversies on scientific issues, scientists likely consider the effects of their findings on journalists and on the public debate. A representative survey of 123 German climate scientists (42%) finds that although most climate scientists think that uncertainties about climate change should be made clearer in public they do not actively communicate this to journalists. Moreover, the climate scientists fear that their results could be misinterpreted in public or exploited by interest groups. Asking scientists about their readiness to publish one of two versions of a fictitious research finding shows that their concerns weigh heavier when a result implies that climate change will proceed slowly than when it implies that climate change will proceed fast.
在科学问题的公开争议中，科学家可能会考虑他们的发现对记者和公众辩论的影响。对 123 名德国气候科学家（42%）的代表性调查发现，尽管大多数气候科学家认为气候变化的不确定性应该在公众中更加明确，但他们并没有积极地与记者沟通。此外，气候科学家担心他们的研究结果可能会在公众中被误解，或者被利益集团利用。要求科学家发表两个虚构研究结果的其中一个版本表明，当一个结果意味着气候变化将缓慢进行时，他们的担忧比当结果意味着气候变化将迅速进行时更重。
