Divergent Perspectives on Expert Disagreement: Preliminary Evidence from Climate Science, Climate Policy, Astrophysics, and Public Opinion

We report the results of an exploratory study that examines the judgments of climate scientists, climate policy experts, astrophysicists, and non-experts (N = 3367) about the factors that contribute to the creation and persistence of disagreement within climate science and astrophysics and about how...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental communication 2019-01, Vol.13 (1), p.35-50
Main Authors: Beebe, James R., Baghramian, Maria, Drury, Luke, Dellsén, Finnur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Climate
Climate change
Climate policy
Climate science
Cosmic radiation
Cosmic rays
Environmental policy
Expert disagreement
expertise
Experts
global warming
Judgments
Public opinion
public policy
Scientists
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Summary:We report the results of an exploratory study that examines the judgments of climate scientists, climate policy experts, astrophysicists, and non-experts (N = 3367) about the factors that contribute to the creation and persistence of disagreement within climate science and astrophysics and about how one should respond to expert disagreement. We found that, as compared to non-experts, climate experts believe that within climate science (i) there is less disagreement about climate change, (ii) methodological factors play less of a role in generating disagreements, (iii) fewer personal or institutional biases influence climate research, and (iv) there is more agreement about which methods should be used to examine relevant phenomena we also observed that the uniquely American political context predicted experts' judgments about some of these factors. We also found that, in regard to disagreements concerning cosmic ray physics, and commensurate with the greater inherent uncertainty and data lacunae in their field, astrophysicists working on cosmic rays were generally more willing to acknowledge expert disagreement, more open to the idea that a set of data can have multiple valid interpretations, and generally less quick to dismiss someone articulating a non-standard view as non-expert, than climate scientists were in regard to climate science.
ISSN:1752-4032
1752-4040
DOI:10.1080/17524032.2018.1504099