A Scientific Approach to Monitoring Public Perceptions of Scientific Issues

This article reports on a three-year study to evaluate a new approach to increasing the impact and adoption of new scientific findings and technologies. The purpose of the case study was to monitor the public's perception of the severity of problems posed by invasive animal species and of possible methods of managing them. A real-time 'moving picture' of public opinion was developed over the lifetime of the study. Despite the modest weekly survey numbers, the results proved remarkably consistent in identifying cane toads, feral cats, rabbits, carp and feral pigs as the public's most disliked pests, in identifying preferred methods for controlling them, in finding differential demographic responses and detecting changing community priorities, and in providing an ongoing measure of the effectiveness of science communication. One important aspect of the study was to evaluate a recently developed technique for identifying and monitoring the key drivers of public perception of the value of the work of a research agency. The article demonstrates the feasibility of obtaining timely, reliable and actionable data that can be used to advance the uptake of new scientific research and assess the efficacy of science communication. It enables the user to monitor changes in the public's perception of the value of scientific research and link this to high-level business drivers such as their willingness to support the eventual deployment of a new technology.