Trust and transparency in times of crisis: Results from an online survey during the first wave (April 2020) of the COVID-19 epidemic in the UK

  1. Luisa Enria
  2. Naomi Waterlow
  3. Nina Trivedy Rogers
  4. Hannah Brindle
  5. Sham Lal
  6. Rosalind M. Eggo
  7. Shelley Lees
  8. Chrissy h. Roberts

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Abstract

The success of a government’s COVID-19 control strategy relies on public trust and broad acceptance of response measures. We investigated public perceptions of the UK government’s COVID-19 response, focusing on the relationship between trust and perceived transparency, during the first wave (April 2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

Methods

Anonymous survey data were collected (2020-04-06 to 2020-04-22) from 9,322 respondents, aged 20+ using an online questionnaire shared primarily through Facebook. We took an embedded-mixed-methods approach to data analysis. Missing data were imputed via multiple imputation. Binomial & multinomial logistic regression were used to detect associations between demographic characteristics and perceptions or opinions of the UK government’s response to COVID-19. Structural topic modelling (STM), qualitative thematic coding of sub-sets of responses were then used to perform a thematic analysis of topics that were of interest to key demographic groups.

Results

Most respondents (95.1%) supported government enforcement of behaviour change. While 52.1% of respondents thought the government was making good decisions, differences were apparent across demographic groups, for example respondents from Scotland had lower odds of responding positively than respondents in London. Higher educational levels saw decreasing odds of having a positive opinion of the government response and decreasing household income associated with decreasing positive opinion. Of respondents who thought the government was not making good decisions 60% believed the economy was being prioritised over people and their health. Positive views on government decision-making were associated with positive views on government transparency about the COVID-19 response. Qualitative analysis about perceptions of government transparency highlighted five key themes: (1) the justification of opacity due to the condition of crisis, (2) generalised mistrust of politics, (3) concerns about the role of scientific evidence, (4) quality of government communication and (5) questions about political decision-making processes.

Conclusion

Our study suggests that trust is not homogenous across communities, and that generalised mistrust, concerns about the transparent use and communication of evidence and insights into decision-making processes can affect perceptions of the government’s pandemic response. We recommend targeted community engagement, tailored to the experiences of different groups and a new focus on accountability and openness around how decisions are made in the response to the UK COVID-19 pandemic.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.01.20183822: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations: Our sample was not population representative and respondents were predominantly white, female and with higher educational attainment. This means that for example, higher levels of trust when compared to pre-crisis levels, could reflect higher levels of structural trust in the sample group. In addition we expect some bias in recruitment towards demographic groups who use Facebook. Because of low uptake, our study was unable to elicit responses from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and we could not draw any conclusions on the perceptions of a demographic group that has been shown to be disproportionately affected by the pandemic [23,24]. In addition, ethnicity matters for understanding structural levels of political trust, as BAME communities are more likely to experience discrimination and institutional racism across a spectrum of interactions with government [25,26]. Indeed, as the COVID-19 pandemic develops, ethnic minorities have been shown to be disproportionately targeted by the enforcement COVID-19 regulations, including higher rates of fines and arrests. In London, black people were twice as likely to be arrested than white people [27]. This reiterates the importance, as noted above, of exploring the political consequences of epidemic control measures in contexts of structural inequality. Recommendations: Further investigation is required to explore other factors that influence trust in the UK government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemi...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

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  2. Version published to 10.1371/journal.pone.0239247
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.09.01.20183822v1 on medRxiv