ANALYSIS OF GROUP DIFFERENCES IN SCIENCE LITERACY DATA

自20世纪70年代末以来，美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）赞助了一系列调查，以衡量公众对科学技术的态度和理解。科学界对多年来一直作为事实知识量表一部分的两个调查项目提出了担忧。其中一个项目旨在衡量对进化的理解，另一个项目是关于宇宙的起源。在这两个项目中，都存在一个问题，即被调查者？答案可能不是衡量科学知识，而是衡量宗教信仰的某些方面。宗教信仰和知识的潜在相互作用可能因宗教团体而异，因此影响美国人口对科学知识的理解。这一建议的重点是关于进化论和宇宙起源问题的不同措辞可能如何影响关于科学素养的结论。2012年《综合社会调查》（General Social Survey）中的一项实验改变了这些问题的措辞，增加了？根据进化论？？还是?根据天文学家的说法？为了强调这些问题是关于科学知识的现状，而不是被调查者？我的个人信仰。初步分析表明，与原版相比，正确回答这些版本问题的美国人比例更高。本项目更深入地研究了这些问题的测量特性。我们使用验证性因子分析来研究这些科学素养测量的原始版本和实验版本在宗教群体之间的测量等效性。美国人的科学素养水平可以影响社会的许多方面。科学素养是个人和社区的资源。例如，科学素养水平较高的人可以对自己或他人的健康做出更好的决定。科学素养还可以通过影响新发现的速度和技术发展等因素来影响经济增长和发展。因此，决策者了解人口的科学素养水平是很重要的。这项建议的目的是澄清调查问题提供科学素养准确测量的程度。它特别关注关于宇宙起源和进化的调查问题的不同措辞如何影响一个人如何得出关于科学素养的结论。

Since the late 1970s, the National Science Foundation has sponsored a series of surveys to gauge public attitudes toward and understanding of science and technology. The scientific community has raised concerns about two of the survey items that have been part of the factual knowledge scale for many years. One of the items is intended to measure understanding of evolution, and the other is about the origins of the universe. In both items, there is a concern that a respondent?s answer may not be measuring scientific knowledge, but rather some aspect of religious belief. This potential interaction of religious belief and knowledge may vary among religious groups, and therefore influence the understanding of scientific knowledge in the U.S. population. This proposal focuses on how different wordings of the questions about evolution and the origins of the universe may affect conclusions about science literacy. An experiment in the 2012 General Social Survey varied the question wording of these items by adding ?According to the theory of evolution?? or ?According to astronomers?? to stress that the questions are about the current state of scientific knowledge, not the respondent?s personal beliefs. Preliminary analyses show that higher percentages of the U.S. population answer these versions of the questions correctly than the original versions. This project investigates the measurement properties of these questions more thoroughly. We use confirmatory factor analysis to study measurement equivalence across religious groups on both the original and experimental versions of these science literacy measures.The level of science literacy in the U.S. population can affect many aspects of society. Science literacy serves as a resource for individuals and communities. For example, individuals with higher levels of science literacy can make better decisions about their own health or the health of others. Science literacy can also impact economic growth and development by influencing factors such as the rate of new discoveries and technological development. Hence, it is important for policy makers to understand the level of science literacy in the population. The goal of this proposal is to clarify the degree to which survey questions provide accurate measures of science literacy. It specifically focuses on how different wordings of survey questions about the origins of the universe and evolution may affect how one draws conclusions about science literacy.