When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.

Research is often fueled by researchers' scientific, but also their personal interests: Sometimes, researchers decide to pursue a specific research question because the answer to that question is idiosyncratically relevant for themselves: Such "me-search" may not only affect the quali...

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Autores principales:	Marlene Sophie Altenmüller, Leonie Lucia Lange, Mario Gollwitzer
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/14584fe0652f4c7ab6ac157699d59c62
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:14584fe0652f4c7ab6ac157699d59c62
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:14584fe0652f4c7ab6ac157699d59c622021-12-02T20:15:32ZWhen research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0253911https://doaj.org/article/14584fe0652f4c7ab6ac157699d59c622021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253911https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Research is often fueled by researchers' scientific, but also their personal interests: Sometimes, researchers decide to pursue a specific research question because the answer to that question is idiosyncratically relevant for themselves: Such "me-search" may not only affect the quality of research, but also how it is perceived by the general public. In two studies (N = 621), we investigate the circumstances under which learning about a researcher's "me-search" increases or decreases laypeople's ascriptions of trustworthiness and credibility to the respective researcher. Results suggest that participants' own preexisting attitudes towards the research topic moderate the effects of "me-search" substantially: When participants hold favorable attitudes towards the research topic (i.e., LGBTQ or veganism), "me-searchers" were perceived as more trustworthy and their research was perceived as more credible. This pattern was reversed when participants held unfavorable attitudes towards the research topic. Study 2 furthermore shows that trustworthiness and credibility perceptions generalize to evaluations of the entire field of research. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.Marlene Sophie AltenmüllerLeonie Lucia LangeMario GollwitzerPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 7, p e0253911 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Marlene Sophie Altenmüller Leonie Lucia Lange Mario Gollwitzer When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.
description	Research is often fueled by researchers' scientific, but also their personal interests: Sometimes, researchers decide to pursue a specific research question because the answer to that question is idiosyncratically relevant for themselves: Such "me-search" may not only affect the quality of research, but also how it is perceived by the general public. In two studies (N = 621), we investigate the circumstances under which learning about a researcher's "me-search" increases or decreases laypeople's ascriptions of trustworthiness and credibility to the respective researcher. Results suggest that participants' own preexisting attitudes towards the research topic moderate the effects of "me-search" substantially: When participants hold favorable attitudes towards the research topic (i.e., LGBTQ or veganism), "me-searchers" were perceived as more trustworthy and their research was perceived as more credible. This pattern was reversed when participants held unfavorable attitudes towards the research topic. Study 2 furthermore shows that trustworthiness and credibility perceptions generalize to evaluations of the entire field of research. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
format	article
author	Marlene Sophie Altenmüller Leonie Lucia Lange Mario Gollwitzer
author_facet	Marlene Sophie Altenmüller Leonie Lucia Lange Mario Gollwitzer
author_sort	Marlene Sophie Altenmüller
title	When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.
title_short	When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.
title_full	When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.
title_fullStr	When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.
title_full_unstemmed	When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.
title_sort	when research is me-search: how researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/14584fe0652f4c7ab6ac157699d59c62
work_keys_str_mv	AT marlenesophiealtenmuller whenresearchismesearchhowresearchersmotivationtopursueatopicaffectslaypeoplestrustinscience AT leonielucialange whenresearchismesearchhowresearchersmotivationtopursueatopicaffectslaypeoplestrustinscience AT mariogollwitzer whenresearchismesearchhowresearchersmotivationtopursueatopicaffectslaypeoplestrustinscience
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When research is me-search: How researchers' motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople's trust in science.

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