Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement

Peter Vickers; Ludovica Adamo; Mark Alfano; Cory Clark; Eleonora Cresto; He Cui; Haixin Dang; Finnur Dellsén; Nathalie Dupin; Laura Gradowski; Simon Graf; Aline Guevara; Mark Hallap; Jesse Hamilton; Mariann Hardey; Paula Helm; Asheley Landrum; Neil Levy; Edouard Machery; Sarah Mills; Seán Muller; Joanne Sheppard; K. Shinod N; Matthew Slater; Jacob Stegenga; Henning Strandin; Michael T. Stuart; David Sweet; Ufuk Tasdan; Henry Taylor; Owen Towler; Dana Tulodziecki; Heidi Tworek; Rebecca Wallbank; Harald Wiltsche; Samantha Mitchell Finnigan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0313541

Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement

Peter Vickers
, Ludovica Adamo
, Mark Alfano
, Cory Clark
, Eleonora Cresto
, He Cui
, Haixin Dang
, Finnur Dellsén
, Nathalie Dupin
, Laura Gradowski
, Simon Graf
, Aline Guevara
, Mark Hallap
, Jesse Hamilton
, Mariann Hardey
, Paula Helm
, Asheley Landrum
, Neil Levy
, Edouard Machery
, Sarah Mills

Seán Muller, Joanne Sheppard, K. Shinod N, Matthew Slater, Jacob Stegenga, Henning Strandin, Michael T. Stuart, David Sweet, Ufuk Tasdan, Henry Taylor, Owen Towler, Dana Tulodziecki, Heidi Tworek, Rebecca Wallbank, Harald Wiltsche, Samantha Mitchell Finnigan

Durham University
University of Leeds
Macquarie University
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
University of Nebraska Omaha
University of Iceland
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
University of Oslo
University of Edinburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
University of Toronto
University of Amsterdam
Arizona State University
University of Oxford
University of Johannesburg
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Hyderabad
Bucknell University
University of Cambridge
Nanyang Technological University
Stockholm University
University of York
University of British Columbia
University of Birmingham
Purdue University
Uppsala University
Linköping University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We take up the challenge of developing an international network with capacity to survey the world’s scientists on an ongoing basis, providing rich datasets regarding the opinions of scientists and scientific sub-communities, both at a time and also over time. The novel methodology employed sees local coordinators, at each institution in the network, sending survey invitation emails internally to scientists at their home institution. The emails link to a ‘10 second survey’, where the participant is presented with a single statement to consider, and a standard five-point Likert scale. In June 2023, a group of 30 philosophers and social scientists invited 20,085 scientists across 30 institutions in 12 countries to participate, gathering 6,807 responses to the statement Science has put it beyond reasonable doubt that COVID19 is caused by a virus. The study demonstrates that it is possible to establish a global network to quickly ascertain scientific opinion on a large international scale, with high response rate, low opt-out rate, and in a way that allows for significant (perhaps indefinite) repeatability. Measuring scientific opinion in this new way would be a valuable complement to currently available approaches, potentially informing policy decisions and public understanding across diverse fields.

Original language	English
Article number	e0313541
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	19
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313541
Publication status	Published - Dec 2024
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Multidisciplinary

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10.1371/journal.pone.0313541

Cite this

Vickers, P., Adamo, L., Alfano, M., Clark, C., Cresto, E., Cui, H., Dang, H., Dellsén, F., Dupin, N., Gradowski, L., Graf, S., Guevara, A., Hallap, M., Hamilton, J., Hardey, M., Helm, P., Landrum, A., Levy, N., Machery, E., ... Finnigan, S. M. (2024). Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement. PLoS ONE, 19(12), Article e0313541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313541

@article{47378acb56ab481cbf98bbaca057e502,

title = "Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement",

abstract = "We take up the challenge of developing an international network with capacity to survey the world{\textquoteright}s scientists on an ongoing basis, providing rich datasets regarding the opinions of scientists and scientific sub-communities, both at a time and also over time. The novel methodology employed sees local coordinators, at each institution in the network, sending survey invitation emails internally to scientists at their home institution. The emails link to a {\textquoteleft}10 second survey{\textquoteright}, where the participant is presented with a single statement to consider, and a standard five-point Likert scale. In June 2023, a group of 30 philosophers and social scientists invited 20,085 scientists across 30 institutions in 12 countries to participate, gathering 6,807 responses to the statement Science has put it beyond reasonable doubt that COVID19 is caused by a virus. The study demonstrates that it is possible to establish a global network to quickly ascertain scientific opinion on a large international scale, with high response rate, low opt-out rate, and in a way that allows for significant (perhaps indefinite) repeatability. Measuring scientific opinion in this new way would be a valuable complement to currently available approaches, potentially informing policy decisions and public understanding across diverse fields.",

author = "Peter Vickers and Ludovica Adamo and Mark Alfano and Cory Clark and Eleonora Cresto and He Cui and Haixin Dang and Finnur Dells{\'e}n and Nathalie Dupin and Laura Gradowski and Simon Graf and Aline Guevara and Mark Hallap and Jesse Hamilton and Mariann Hardey and Paula Helm and Asheley Landrum and Neil Levy and Edouard Machery and Sarah Mills and Se{\'a}n Muller and Joanne Sheppard and \{Shinod N\}, K. and Matthew Slater and Jacob Stegenga and Henning Strandin and Stuart, \{Michael T.\} and David Sweet and Ufuk Tasdan and Henry Taylor and Owen Towler and Dana Tulodziecki and Heidi Tworek and Rebecca Wallbank and Harald Wiltsche and Finnigan, \{Samantha Mitchell\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 Vickers et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",

year = "2024",

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Vickers, P, Adamo, L, Alfano, M, Clark, C, Cresto, E, Cui, H, Dang, H, Dellsén, F, Dupin, N, Gradowski, L, Graf, S, Guevara, A, Hallap, M, Hamilton, J, Hardey, M, Helm, P, Landrum, A, Levy, N, Machery, E, Mills, S, Muller, S, Sheppard, J, Shinod N, K, Slater, M, Stegenga, J, Strandin, H, Stuart, MT, Sweet, D, Tasdan, U, Taylor, H, Towler, O, Tulodziecki, D, Tworek, H, Wallbank, R, Wiltsche, H & Finnigan, SM 2024, 'Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement', PLoS ONE, vol. 19, no. 12, e0313541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313541

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AU - Vickers, Peter

AU - Adamo, Ludovica

AU - Alfano, Mark

AU - Clark, Cory

AU - Cresto, Eleonora

AU - Cui, He

AU - Dang, Haixin

AU - Dellsén, Finnur

AU - Dupin, Nathalie

AU - Gradowski, Laura

AU - Graf, Simon

AU - Guevara, Aline

AU - Hallap, Mark

AU - Hamilton, Jesse

AU - Hardey, Mariann

AU - Helm, Paula

AU - Landrum, Asheley

AU - Levy, Neil

AU - Machery, Edouard

AU - Mills, Sarah

AU - Muller, Seán

AU - Sheppard, Joanne

AU - Shinod N, K.

AU - Slater, Matthew

AU - Stegenga, Jacob

AU - Strandin, Henning

AU - Stuart, Michael T.

AU - Sweet, David

AU - Tasdan, Ufuk

AU - Taylor, Henry

AU - Towler, Owen

AU - Tulodziecki, Dana

AU - Tworek, Heidi

AU - Wallbank, Rebecca

AU - Wiltsche, Harald

AU - Finnigan, Samantha Mitchell

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Vickers et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2024/12

Y1 - 2024/12

N2 - We take up the challenge of developing an international network with capacity to survey the world’s scientists on an ongoing basis, providing rich datasets regarding the opinions of scientists and scientific sub-communities, both at a time and also over time. The novel methodology employed sees local coordinators, at each institution in the network, sending survey invitation emails internally to scientists at their home institution. The emails link to a ‘10 second survey’, where the participant is presented with a single statement to consider, and a standard five-point Likert scale. In June 2023, a group of 30 philosophers and social scientists invited 20,085 scientists across 30 institutions in 12 countries to participate, gathering 6,807 responses to the statement Science has put it beyond reasonable doubt that COVID19 is caused by a virus. The study demonstrates that it is possible to establish a global network to quickly ascertain scientific opinion on a large international scale, with high response rate, low opt-out rate, and in a way that allows for significant (perhaps indefinite) repeatability. Measuring scientific opinion in this new way would be a valuable complement to currently available approaches, potentially informing policy decisions and public understanding across diverse fields.

AB - We take up the challenge of developing an international network with capacity to survey the world’s scientists on an ongoing basis, providing rich datasets regarding the opinions of scientists and scientific sub-communities, both at a time and also over time. The novel methodology employed sees local coordinators, at each institution in the network, sending survey invitation emails internally to scientists at their home institution. The emails link to a ‘10 second survey’, where the participant is presented with a single statement to consider, and a standard five-point Likert scale. In June 2023, a group of 30 philosophers and social scientists invited 20,085 scientists across 30 institutions in 12 countries to participate, gathering 6,807 responses to the statement Science has put it beyond reasonable doubt that COVID19 is caused by a virus. The study demonstrates that it is possible to establish a global network to quickly ascertain scientific opinion on a large international scale, with high response rate, low opt-out rate, and in a way that allows for significant (perhaps indefinite) repeatability. Measuring scientific opinion in this new way would be a valuable complement to currently available approaches, potentially informing policy decisions and public understanding across diverse fields.

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DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0313541

M3 - Article

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JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

IS - 12

M1 - e0313541

ER -

Development of a novel methodology for ascertaining scientific opinion and extent of agreement

Abstract

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