In search of the universal dimensions of Public Perception of Science

One possible way of solving the problem with the cross-cultural validity of the indicators of public understanding of science is analysis of the latent structure of sets of statements used in previous surveys. The factor analysis of eighteen statements from Eurobarometer 224 (2005) reveals three stable replicable latent dimensions—Evaluation, Efficacy and Control. The Efficacy dimension was replicated in the data of thirty-four countries participating in the survey. This dimension was not replicated only in Northern Ireland. The Control dimension was not replicated only in East Germany, Turkey and Norway. It is shown that the Evaluation and Efficacy dimension correlate and form new second-order dimension ‘Science is for others’ vs ‘Science is for us’.