Confiança na ciência em (tempos de) crise : uma análise dos fatores que influenciaram a percepção dos brasileiros durante a pandemia de Covid-19

Abstract

During the years 2020 and 2022, a pandemic caused by a new type of coronavirus (SARSCov-2), triggered public health, political, economic and humanitarian crises, deepened structural weaknesses and impacted, in different proportions, the lives of every person on the planet. The context of doubts and insecurities, reinforced by the large circulation of fake news and conspiracy theories, spilled over into science, contributing to the increase of a feeling that trust in science, its institutions and its professionals could have been shaken. In Sociology, trust is an old topic of debate and has been studied from different perspectives. There are few studies, however, that seek structural explanations to understand the phenomenon, especially with an emphasis on trust in science. This research follows a quantitative approach and seeks to identify and understand which factors influenced trust in science, in Brazil, during the covid-19 pandemic. To this end, it employs multivariate statistical analysis methodologies, in particular structural equation modeling. The database used in the study was generated by the survey Confidence in science in Brazil in times of pandemic, carried out in 2022 by the National Institute of Science and Technology in Public Communication of Science and Technology (INCT-CPCT). From this sample, representative of the adult Brazilian population, the impact of sociodemographic variables on the declaration of trust in science is verified, as well as the influence of dimensions that, according to specialized literature, have effects on opinions and attitudes related to scientific topics. As a result, we present a structural modelling equation of trust in science that shows how trust was built in Brazil during this period, and, on the other hand, its main predictors. We observed that Technical Expertise (related to the notions of competence and expertise) and Integrity (perception of honesty and work ethics) are dimensions of trust in science. Furthermore, among the predictors, dimensions linked to attitudes and knowledge are those with the greatest strength in the model. This leads us to conclude, supported by statistical analysis, that not only knowledge about science and its mode of production define confidence in the field, but also the perceptions about the opportunities generated by science, the perceptions of risks arising from the application of knowledge, the values linked to gender equality and the predisposition to participate in political demonstrations. The results, first, offer a proposal for operationalizing the statistical analysis on trust that can be replicated in future studies on the topic. They also draw attention to the relevance of the population's values and opinions in building this trust, which must be considered by public managers, communicators and researchers in developing public policies and strategies involving education and scientific communication.