“Space means Science, unless it’s about Star Wars”: A qualitative assessment of science communication audience segments

Koch, Carmen; Saner, Mirco; Schäfer, Mike S.; Herrmann-Giovanelli, Iris; Metag, Julia

Abstract

Scholars of science communication have identified population segments that differ in their perceptions ofand attitudes toward science as well as in their patterns of science-related information and media use. So far, however, most of these studies employed quantitative, standardized methods and their descriptions couldnot go into qualitative detail. This study fills this gap: It delivers an in-depth description of members of fouraudience segments that were identified in a prior, representative survey in Switzerland. Forty-one of thesesurvey respondents, representing different segments, were asked to note their encounters with sciencein smartphone-based diaries, and diary entries were discussed in qualitative follow-up interviews. Resultsshow that the segments differ in their criteria for identifying science, expectations toward science, and theirreasons to use science communication.