About the 3M State of Science Index
Original research
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Science matters. It matters to us, because it’s science that fuels 3M’s Vision: technology improving every company, products enhancing every home and innovation improving every life.
But what does the world think of science? Is it recognized and appreciated? Do people see, feel and appreciate its impact? Or are they unaware, unconscious and indifferent to its presence around them? Are they trusting or skeptical of science and scientists? Do they even care?
We couldn’t find the answers, so we conducted our own research to get them. The result is the 3M State of Science Index. Discover what we found out about the image of science, along with revelations and insights from people all over the world.
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Why should we care what people think about science?
If the world is indifferent to science, what are the consequences? Do apathy and skepticism undermine importance and respect for science and the role it plays in society? And could that ultimately impact science as a priority along with future scientific endeavors, funding and research?
These are all reasons why 3M chose to get a pulse on how people feel about science. We know science can improve lives and that we all have something to gain—from society in general, to individual countries and future generations. But if everyday citizens don’t see that, it doesn’t matter what we in the science community believe. Understanding how science is perceived is an important first step to having an informed conversation about this important topic.
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Explore the insights
You can access The State of Science Index data to see attitudes to science and we invite you to explore insights country-by-country through our explorer tool. We hope you’ll share and discuss the research. What do you think they mean to science today and in the future? View the survey explorer. For an overview of the combined global results, download our pdf here (PDF, 2.97 MB).
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Methodology
3M’s State of Science Index presents original, independent and nationally representative research conducted in 14 countries among the general population. It is one of the largest, most global studies to explore attitudes to science in recent years, and enables 3M to track and benchmark shifts in attitudes about science over time, using this first year as a baseline. Data from this research can be viewed as a 14-country, global average, or individually by country. At the 95 percent confidence level, the margin of error is +/- 0.83 percentage points at the global level and +/- 3.1 percentage points for each individual country. About 1,000 respondents in each of the 14 countries participated in this survey.
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