What question did this study set out to answer?

This report aims to analyze the public's relationship with science in South Africa, focusing on attitudes, beliefs, and information sources.

May 25, 2026Open Access

Public relationship with science in South Africa: tabulation report based on the 2013 round of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS)

Key Points

This report aims to analyze the public's relationship with science in South Africa, focusing on attitudes, beliefs, and information sources.
Administered a module of 30 questions as part of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) in 2013
Sample included adults aged 16 and older, capturing diverse public attitudes and behaviors
Survey linked to National Science Week to explore public perceptions of STEM and its societal impact.
Participants expressed varied levels of interest in science, with notable impacts on culture and the economy identified.
Public attitudes towards scientists and science as a career choice were assessed, revealing important trends since previous surveys.
Awareness of the value of STEM in daily life showed signs of improvement following National Science Week.

Abstract

This report is one of the outputs associated with the HSRC Education and Skills Development (ESD) research programme's ongoing work on the Public Relationship with Science (PRS) in general and the Youth into Science project specifically. A module of 30 questions capturing different aspects of the public relationship with science was developed and fielded as part of the eleventh round of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), conducted in the last quarter of 2013. This drew on the experience of the 2010 SASAS round, which included an experimental PRS module commissioned by ESD. The SASAS series has been administered by the HSRC on an annual basis since 2003. It is a nationally representative sample survey of adults aged 16 and older that investigates public's attitudes, beliefs, behaviour patterns and values in the country. The long term aim of this survey programme is to construct an empirical evidence base that will enable analysts to track and explain the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of the country's diverse populations. The survey round occurred shortly after National Science Week (NSW, 27 July - 3 August 2013), which is an annual countrywide initiative championed by the Department of Science and Technology and implemented by SAASTA that aims to celebrate science, technology, engineering, mathematics and innovation (STEMI). The intention of NSW is to promote a general awareness of the value of STEMI to people's daily life. Linked to the general objectives of NSW, the SASAS PRS module was designed with the purpose of exploring: * what the public thinks about science (attitudes) and scientists in South Africa, * how interested the public is about science, what are the sources of information for the public * the perceived impact of science on society, in terms of its impact on entertainment; culture, and on the economy; * perceptions of science as a school subject and a career choice; and * whether and how, public attitudes have evolved since previous PRS studies. * Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions about Square Kilometre Array (SKA)/study of the universe

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Human Sciences Research Council (Sat,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a13e88c0e02ee3982d33552 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14749/32387571

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