Niels G Mede
Biographic Data
| ID | 316693 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Niels G Mede |
| GIVEN NAMES | Niels G |
| FAMILY NAME | Mede |
| SIGNATURE | MEDE N G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Zurich |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5707-7568 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Walking the line: Balancing benefits of public engagement against the risks of harassment and attack
Harassment, political interference, and violence against science communication are on the rise and pose considerable challenges for scientists, journalists, communicators, and institutions. In this commentary, we — an international group of researchers and practitioners — reflect on how scientists, science communicators and their institutions can balance the increased demand for meaningful public engagement while also appropriately responding to …
Scholars Under Attack — Navigating the dark side of public engagement and science communication in a politicised (online) environment
One and Done? Testing a One-Item Measure to Distinguish Audiences of Science Communication
This preregistered study tests whether a one-item self-categorization question can reproduce Schäfer et al.’s four-segment typology of science communication audiences: “Sciencephiles,” “Critically Interested,” “Passive Supporters,” and “Disengaged.” Using survey data from 3,272 visitors to CERN’s Science Gateway, we compare classifications from the single-item measure with those from the established 10-item instrument. Results show high precision…
Long-term media effects on public attitudes toward science in Switzerland: A panel survey of the Swiss population
Understanding how media influence public attitudes toward science during societal challenges is crucial for effective science communication. This study examines the role of media use and sociodemographic factors in shaping public attitudes toward science in Switzerland using panel data from three surveys over 6 years ( N 2016 = 1,051; N 2019 = 339; N 2022 = 122). Results show that media usage and sociodemographics influenced attitudes, especially…
Public backlash against science communicators: Conceptualization and qualitative analysis of perceptions, effects, responses, and contextual factors
Public backlash against scientists is drawing growing concern. It can come from citizens, politicians, or journalists and ranges from legitimate criticism to harassment and physical attacks. Backlash also affects science communication professionals, yet this has received comparatively little public and scholarly attention. Our study addresses this gap. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 15 university communicators from multiple countries, we …
Fertile ground to problematic views? How dark and mainstream social media relate to conspiracy beliefs and fake news
Sharing of fake news and conspiracy beliefs are prevalent concerns in online spaces, especially in contexts that involve politicized topics and identities. However, it is less clear to what extent social media platforms and users partisan identities are associated with such behavior and beliefs, especially when comparing traditional and non-traditional partisan groups. Using a cross-sectional survey of Alt-Right supporters and non-Alt-Right Democ…
Measuring Science Literacy in a Digital World: Development and Validation of a Multi-Dimensional Survey Scale
We present a new multilingual 14-item scale for measuring science literacy in survey and experimental research. The scale captures three essential dimensions of science literacy in a digital world: civic science literacy, science media literacy, and cognitive science literacy. We developed, tested, and validated the scale through two preregistered national quota surveys in Switzerland and the United States in four languages (English, German, Fren…
Communicating Scientific Norms in the Hybrid Media Environment: A Mixed-Method Analysis of Social Media Engagement With Watchdog Science Journalism
Hybrid media systems have reconfigured online journalism and mass communication such that people can engage more easily in multi-directional discourse about the norms of science. We investigate this reconfiguration with a mixed-methods study of the X page of “Retraction Watch,” which produces hybrid “watchdog science journalism” on violations of scientific norms. Results show that Retraction Watch’s X is not necessarily an inclusive forum for ope…
Science and society in Ireland: Examining public trust in scientists against a global background
Public trust in scientists is vital for navigating complex global challenges, influencing evidence-informed policy, and promoting societal well-being. However, concerns exist about a potential crisis of trust in science, fuelled by misinformation, conspiracy theories, and science-related populism. The Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism (TISP) study investigated public perceptions of scientists across 68 countries. This paper examines t…
Gaps in public trust between scientists and climate scientists: A 68 country study
This study compares public trust in climate scientists and scientists in general across 68 countries ( N = 69,534). On average, participants reported moderately high levels of trust in climate scientists, with trust levels being slightly lower than trust in scientists in general. Overall, this trust gap was larger among participants who identified as politically conservative or right-leaning, but there was considerable variation across countries
Literate and Critical? Characterizing Users of Alternative Scientific Media
Science is of crucial importance in contemporary societies. Concurrently, legacy news media outlets are losing their position as the main fora for discussing and providing information on science and politics. In the hybrid media system, a broader range of news media have emerged. Among them are alternative news media, which position themselves as corrective voices to “mainstream” news media—including when it comes to reporting on science. In this…
Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science
This 68-country survey ( n = 71,922) examines science information diets and communication behavior, identifies cross-country differences, and tests how such differences are associated with sociopolitical and economic conditions. We find that social media are the most used sources of science information in most countries, except those with democratic-corporatist media systems where news media tend to be used more widely. People in collectivist soc…
Victims of Conspiracies? An Examination of the Relationship Between Conspiracy Beliefs and Dispositional Individual Victimhood
Conspiracy beliefs have been linked to perceptions of collective victimhood. We adopt an individual perspective on victimhood by investigating the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and the individual disposition to perceive and react to injustice as a victim, i.e., victim justice sensitivity (VJS). Data from two German samples (Ns = 370, 373) indicated a positive association between VJS and conspiracy mentality beyond conceptually related c…
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most p…
The Climate Change Generation: Vocal but Overconfident? How Young Adults Who Overestimate Their Climate Knowledge Use Social Media and Engage With Others
Research suggests that social media can cause users, especially young adults, to overestimate their knowledge about climate change. Knowledge overestimation may then lead users to communicate more frequently about climate change with others. We test these hypotheses with a four-wave panel survey of respondents aged 18-29 years. We find that social media exposure is positively associated with respondents' tendencies to overestimate their knowledge…
The Interplay of Knowledge Overestimation, Social Media Use, and Populist Ideas: Cross-Sectional and Experimental Evidence From Germany and Taiwan
Social media expose users to an abundance of information about various issues. But they also make it difficult for users to assess the quality of this information. If users do not recognize this, they may overestimate their knowledge about those issues. Knowledge overestimation may lead to increased social media engagement and can be linked to attitudes deeming expert knowledge inferior to common sense, such as science-related populist attitudes.…
How scientists’ collective climate advocacy affects public trust in scientists and voting behavior
Scientists increasingly engage in policy advocacy, especially on climate change. Does this advocacy undermine—or bolster—public trust in scientists and support for scientists’ recommendations? We leveraged a unique opportunity to answer this question in a real-world setting: the 2023 referendum for the Swiss climate protection law (CPL), which was supported by a public statement of 252 renowned scientists across disciplines. We conducted a pre-re…
Variations of science-related populism in comparative perspective: A multilevel segmentation analysis of supporters and opponents of populist demands toward science
Many countries worldwide have seen populist resentment against scientists, which can manifest as “science-related populist attitudes” among the population. These attitudes can be assumed to divide populations into multiple segments—each endorsing or rejecting different facets of science-related populism, with segment sizes and characteristics varying between countries and cultural contexts. This study tests this with a secondary analysis of four …
Science-related populism: Conceptualization, empirical investigation, and implications for science communication (Dissertation Summary)
Populist criticism has become a significant challenge for science and science communication. Such criticism maintains that allegedly corrupt academic elites and their expertise are inferior to allegedly virtuous “ordinary people” and their common sense. It suggests that the people, rather than elites, should have authority over how “true knowledge” is produced and communicated. This dissertation provides a conceptual and empirical analysis of pop…
Populist attitudes towards politics and science: How do they differ
While populist citizens’ opposition to political elites has been intensively researched, populist criticism of other societal institutions, such as science, has only recently attracted public and scholarly attention. Political and science populism can both be understood as a set of ideas that revolve around an antagonism between a virtuous common people and an evil elite. However, political populism focuses on political power claims and challenge…
An anchor in troubled times: Trust in science before and within the Covid-19 pandemic
Researchers, policy makers and science communicators have become increasingly been interested in factors that affect public’s trust in science. Recently, one such potentially important driving factor has emerged, the COVID-19 pandemic. Have trust in science and other science-related beliefs changed in Germany from before to during the pandemic? To investigate this, we re-analyzed data from a set of representative surveys conducted in April, May, …
Legacy media as inhibitors and drivers of public reservations against science: Global survey evidence on the link between media use and anti-science attitudes
Public resentment toward scientific institutions, scholars, and their expertise challenges the status of science in society in many countries worldwide. It is thus essential to examine the global prevalence of such resentment—and the potential of legacy media to temper it, thanks to their ability to cultivate positive views of science, educate citizens, and connect publics to scientific discourse. However, existing research has mostly surveyed We…
Predicting Public Trust in Science: The Role of Basic Orientations Toward Science, Perceived Trustworthiness of Scientists, and Experiences With Science
Scientists (and science as a whole) provide evidence and advice for societal problem solving and collective decision-making. For this advice to be heard, the public must be willing to trust science, where “trust” means that one can confidently expect science to provide reliable knowledge and evidence, even if one’s understanding of science is bounded. According to the sociological and psychological literature, citizens’ basic attitudes toward, ex…
Science-related populism declining during the Covid-19 pandemic: A panel survey of the Swiss population before and after the Coronavirus outbreak
In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased public support for societal institutions including science, a phenomenon described as “rally-round-the-flag” dynamic. However, it is unclear if this dynamic has also reduced public resentment toward science such as science-related populist attitudes, that is, the preference of people’s common sense over allegedly elitist scientific knowledge. We test this, relying on individual-level data …
Are science communication audiences becoming more critical? Reconstructing migration between audience segments based on Swiss panel data
Over the past years, pundits, journalists, and others have diagnosed fundamental shifts in the public’s perception of science. Many of them have posited that audiences are becoming more critical toward science or that people trust science less. However, systematic empirical analyses of such assertions are lacking. Based on panel survey data ( N = 339) and segmentation analysis, we investigate migration between four segments of the Swiss populatio…
The SciPop Scale for Measuring Science-Related Populist Attitudes in Surveys: Development, Test, and Validation
Populism typically pits political elites against “the virtuous people.” A distinct variant of populism (“science-related populism”) extends beyond politics, targeting academic elites and suggesting they ignore people’s common sense and will. Individual endorsement of such a worldview (“science-related populist attitudes”) has been conceptualized but not yet measured. Hence, we developed the SciPop Scale, a survey instrument to measure science-rel…
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most p…
Populist attitudes towards politics and science: How do they differ
While populist citizens’ opposition to political elites has been intensively researched, populist criticism of other societal institutions, such as science, has only recently attracted public and scholarly attention. Political and science populism can both be understood as a set of ideas that revolve around an antagonism between a virtuous common people and an evil elite. However, political populism focuses on political power claims and challenge…
Variations of science-related populism in comparative perspective: A multilevel segmentation analysis of supporters and opponents of populist demands toward science
Many countries worldwide have seen populist resentment against scientists, which can manifest as “science-related populist attitudes” among the population. These attitudes can be assumed to divide populations into multiple segments—each endorsing or rejecting different facets of science-related populism, with segment sizes and characteristics varying between countries and cultural contexts. This study tests this with a secondary analysis of four …
Measuring Science Literacy in a Digital World: Development and Validation of a Multi-Dimensional Survey Scale
We present a new multilingual 14-item scale for measuring science literacy in survey and experimental research. The scale captures three essential dimensions of science literacy in a digital world: civic science literacy, science media literacy, and cognitive science literacy. We developed, tested, and validated the scale through two preregistered national quota surveys in Switzerland and the United States in four languages (English, German, Fren…
Victims of Conspiracies? An Examination of the Relationship Between Conspiracy Beliefs and Dispositional Individual Victimhood
Conspiracy beliefs have been linked to perceptions of collective victimhood. We adopt an individual perspective on victimhood by investigating the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and the individual disposition to perceive and react to injustice as a victim, i.e., victim justice sensitivity (VJS). Data from two German samples (Ns = 370, 373) indicated a positive association between VJS and conspiracy mentality beyond conceptually related c…
Eyeing CRISPR on Wikipedia: Using Eye Tracking to Assess What Lay Audiences Look for to Learn about CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing is a monumental leap in genetic engineering with considerable societal implications – but it is a complex procedure that is difficult to understand for non-scientists. Wikipedia has been shown to be an important source of information about scientific topics. But research on search, selection, and reception processes on Wikipedia is scarce. By means of eye tracking and survey data, this study investigates how users …
Science-related populism: Conceptualizing populist demands toward science
Populism is on the rise in many countries. Scholars have stated that it is characteristic for political populism to describe society as a fundamental struggle between an allegedly virtuous people and political elites which are portrayed negatively. This anti-elitist sentiment not only targets politicians, however, but also other representatives of the alleged establishment—including scientists and scholarly institutions. But the specifics of such…
The SciPop Scale for Measuring Science-Related Populist Attitudes in Surveys: Development, Test, and Validation
Populism typically pits political elites against “the virtuous people.” A distinct variant of populism (“science-related populism”) extends beyond politics, targeting academic elites and suggesting they ignore people’s common sense and will. Individual endorsement of such a worldview (“science-related populist attitudes”) has been conceptualized but not yet measured. Hence, we developed the SciPop Scale, a survey instrument to measure science-rel…
The “replication crisis” in the public eye: Germans’ awareness and perceptions of the (ir)reproducibility of scientific research
Several meta-analytical attempts to reproduce results of empirical research have failed in recent years, prompting scholars and news media to diagnose a “replication crisis” and voice concerns about science losing public credibility. Others, in contrast, hoped replication efforts could improve public confidence in science. Yet nationally representative evidence backing these concerns or hopes is scarce. We provide such evidence, conducting a seco…
An anchor in troubled times: Trust in science before and within the Covid-19 pandemic
Researchers, policy makers and science communicators have become increasingly been interested in factors that affect public’s trust in science. Recently, one such potentially important driving factor has emerged, the COVID-19 pandemic. Have trust in science and other science-related beliefs changed in Germany from before to during the pandemic? To investigate this, we re-analyzed data from a set of representative surveys conducted in April, May, …
Legacy media as inhibitors and drivers of public reservations against science: Global survey evidence on the link between media use and anti-science attitudes
Public resentment toward scientific institutions, scholars, and their expertise challenges the status of science in society in many countries worldwide. It is thus essential to examine the global prevalence of such resentment—and the potential of legacy media to temper it, thanks to their ability to cultivate positive views of science, educate citizens, and connect publics to scientific discourse. However, existing research has mostly surveyed We…
Predicting Public Trust in Science: The Role of Basic Orientations Toward Science, Perceived Trustworthiness of Scientists, and Experiences With Science
Scientists (and science as a whole) provide evidence and advice for societal problem solving and collective decision-making. For this advice to be heard, the public must be willing to trust science, where “trust” means that one can confidently expect science to provide reliable knowledge and evidence, even if one’s understanding of science is bounded. According to the sociological and psychological literature, citizens’ basic attitudes toward, ex…
Science-related populism declining during the Covid-19 pandemic: A panel survey of the Swiss population before and after the Coronavirus outbreak
In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased public support for societal institutions including science, a phenomenon described as “rally-round-the-flag” dynamic. However, it is unclear if this dynamic has also reduced public resentment toward science such as science-related populist attitudes, that is, the preference of people’s common sense over allegedly elitist scientific knowledge. We test this, relying on individual-level data …
Are science communication audiences becoming more critical? Reconstructing migration between audience segments based on Swiss panel data
Over the past years, pundits, journalists, and others have diagnosed fundamental shifts in the public’s perception of science. Many of them have posited that audiences are becoming more critical toward science or that people trust science less. However, systematic empirical analyses of such assertions are lacking. Based on panel survey data ( N = 339) and segmentation analysis, we investigate migration between four segments of the Swiss populatio…
Science-related populism: Conceptualization, empirical investigation, and implications for science communication (Dissertation Summary)
Populist criticism has become a significant challenge for science and science communication. Such criticism maintains that allegedly corrupt academic elites and their expertise are inferior to allegedly virtuous “ordinary people” and their common sense. It suggests that the people, rather than elites, should have authority over how “true knowledge” is produced and communicated. This dissertation provides a conceptual and empirical analysis of pop…
Populist attitudes towards politics and science: How do they differ
While populist citizens’ opposition to political elites has been intensively researched, populist criticism of other societal institutions, such as science, has only recently attracted public and scholarly attention. Political and science populism can both be understood as a set of ideas that revolve around an antagonism between a virtuous common people and an evil elite. However, political populism focuses on political power claims and challenge…
The Interplay of Knowledge Overestimation, Social Media Use, and Populist Ideas: Cross-Sectional and Experimental Evidence From Germany and Taiwan
Social media expose users to an abundance of information about various issues. But they also make it difficult for users to assess the quality of this information. If users do not recognize this, they may overestimate their knowledge about those issues. Knowledge overestimation may lead to increased social media engagement and can be linked to attitudes deeming expert knowledge inferior to common sense, such as science-related populist attitudes.…
How scientists’ collective climate advocacy affects public trust in scientists and voting behavior
Scientists increasingly engage in policy advocacy, especially on climate change. Does this advocacy undermine—or bolster—public trust in scientists and support for scientists’ recommendations? We leveraged a unique opportunity to answer this question in a real-world setting: the 2023 referendum for the Swiss climate protection law (CPL), which was supported by a public statement of 252 renowned scientists across disciplines. We conducted a pre-re…
Variations of science-related populism in comparative perspective: A multilevel segmentation analysis of supporters and opponents of populist demands toward science
Many countries worldwide have seen populist resentment against scientists, which can manifest as “science-related populist attitudes” among the population. These attitudes can be assumed to divide populations into multiple segments—each endorsing or rejecting different facets of science-related populism, with segment sizes and characteristics varying between countries and cultural contexts. This study tests this with a secondary analysis of four …
Communicating Scientific Norms in the Hybrid Media Environment: A Mixed-Method Analysis of Social Media Engagement With Watchdog Science Journalism
Hybrid media systems have reconfigured online journalism and mass communication such that people can engage more easily in multi-directional discourse about the norms of science. We investigate this reconfiguration with a mixed-methods study of the X page of “Retraction Watch,” which produces hybrid “watchdog science journalism” on violations of scientific norms. Results show that Retraction Watch’s X is not necessarily an inclusive forum for ope…
Science and society in Ireland: Examining public trust in scientists against a global background
Public trust in scientists is vital for navigating complex global challenges, influencing evidence-informed policy, and promoting societal well-being. However, concerns exist about a potential crisis of trust in science, fuelled by misinformation, conspiracy theories, and science-related populism. The Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism (TISP) study investigated public perceptions of scientists across 68 countries. This paper examines t…
Gaps in public trust between scientists and climate scientists: A 68 country study
This study compares public trust in climate scientists and scientists in general across 68 countries ( N = 69,534). On average, participants reported moderately high levels of trust in climate scientists, with trust levels being slightly lower than trust in scientists in general. Overall, this trust gap was larger among participants who identified as politically conservative or right-leaning, but there was considerable variation across countries
Literate and Critical? Characterizing Users of Alternative Scientific Media
Science is of crucial importance in contemporary societies. Concurrently, legacy news media outlets are losing their position as the main fora for discussing and providing information on science and politics. In the hybrid media system, a broader range of news media have emerged. Among them are alternative news media, which position themselves as corrective voices to “mainstream” news media—including when it comes to reporting on science. In this…
Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science
This 68-country survey ( n = 71,922) examines science information diets and communication behavior, identifies cross-country differences, and tests how such differences are associated with sociopolitical and economic conditions. We find that social media are the most used sources of science information in most countries, except those with democratic-corporatist media systems where news media tend to be used more widely. People in collectivist soc…
Victims of Conspiracies? An Examination of the Relationship Between Conspiracy Beliefs and Dispositional Individual Victimhood
Conspiracy beliefs have been linked to perceptions of collective victimhood. We adopt an individual perspective on victimhood by investigating the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and the individual disposition to perceive and react to injustice as a victim, i.e., victim justice sensitivity (VJS). Data from two German samples (Ns = 370, 373) indicated a positive association between VJS and conspiracy mentality beyond conceptually related c…
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most p…
The Climate Change Generation: Vocal but Overconfident? How Young Adults Who Overestimate Their Climate Knowledge Use Social Media and Engage With Others
Research suggests that social media can cause users, especially young adults, to overestimate their knowledge about climate change. Knowledge overestimation may then lead users to communicate more frequently about climate change with others. We test these hypotheses with a four-wave panel survey of respondents aged 18-29 years. We find that social media exposure is positively associated with respondents' tendencies to overestimate their knowledge…
Walking the line: Balancing benefits of public engagement against the risks of harassment and attack
Harassment, political interference, and violence against science communication are on the rise and pose considerable challenges for scientists, journalists, communicators, and institutions. In this commentary, we — an international group of researchers and practitioners — reflect on how scientists, science communicators and their institutions can balance the increased demand for meaningful public engagement while also appropriately responding to …
Scholars Under Attack — Navigating the dark side of public engagement and science communication in a politicised (online) environment
One and Done? Testing a One-Item Measure to Distinguish Audiences of Science Communication
This preregistered study tests whether a one-item self-categorization question can reproduce Schäfer et al.’s four-segment typology of science communication audiences: “Sciencephiles,” “Critically Interested,” “Passive Supporters,” and “Disengaged.” Using survey data from 3,272 visitors to CERN’s Science Gateway, we compare classifications from the single-item measure with those from the established 10-item instrument. Results show high precision…
Political science (20 works) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (19 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (17 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Politics (11 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Science communication (9 works) · Social Media and Politics (9 works)