Developing Measures of Public Perceptions of Values in Science

Scholars in the history, philosophy, and social studies of science often explain public scientific controversies by appealing to views of the general public on appropriate roles for values in science. However, evidence that members of the public actually hold these views is limited. This paper presents the Values in Science Scale (VISS), a quantitative survey instrument designed to measure these views. Qualitative methods were used to ensure construct validity among US adults (Study 2). In one notable initial finding using VISS, the value-free ideal (VFI) — a traditional conception of objectivity — is not correlated with generalized trust in science.