Knowledge deficit

The science literacy/knowledge deficit model states that the public is willing and able to process information if it is available. Therefore, a lack of public support or participation is caused by a lack of information available to the public.

Audiences can and should acquire as much info as possible about science and technologies. This increase of information will allow audiences to develop well-informed perceptions about the impacts of a science topic such as nanotechnology or climate change.

Other people, Internet, media, many researchers, and practitioners in this area also argue that a more-informed public would be more supportive of scientific inquiry and of emerging technologies, such as nanotechnology or agricultural technology. This is not rational: Example: only 3% of people in America have been to a town meeting. The reality is that the public will take information and interpret it based on their individual social, political, and cultural backgrounds. Religious and political beliefs can often stand in the way of a person's objective opinion. This can have a negative effect on science.

A 2010 meta-analysis of 193 studies sought to interpret the link between science knowledge and attitude towards science. The studies included were taken using nonuniform methods across the world between 1989 and 2004 to provide a cross-cultural analysis. Broad and specific science knowledge and attitude categories were correlated. General science and general biology knowledge was gauged using questions similar to those by the National Science Foundation used to capture "civil scientific literacy". Data on general science and biology knowledge was then compared with attitudes towards general science, nuclear power, genetic medicine, genetically modified food, and environmental science. From the raw data, it was found that a small positive correlation exists between general science knowledge and attitude towards science, indicating that increased scientific knowledge is related to a favorable attitude towards a science topic, and that this was not related to socioeconomic or technologic status of a country, but rather the amount of individuals enrolled in tertiary education. However, some studies have found that high levels of science knowledge may indicate highly positive and highly negative attitudes towards specific topics such as agriculture biotechnology. Thus knowledge may be a predictor of the attitude strength and not necessarily if the attitude is positive or negative.

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