CaSE’s Discovery Decade programme aims to build broader and long-lasting public support behind R&D.
Our team is working with R&D advocates to adopt targeted, evidence-based messages, based on comprehensive public opinion data which reveals how different people think and feel about R&D.
Over the course of 2022-23, CaSE worked with the research agency Public First to carry out a major study of public attitudes to R&D. This comprised four nationally-representative surveys, polling a total of 18,000 people and anchored by a landmark survey of 8,000 people in July 2022, and 14 focus groups with people from across the UK.
This page allows you to explore this open access data in detail, or through our summaries and reports.
First, we consider the different public audiences, exploring current levels of knowledge and awareness of R&D, perceptions of the benefits of R&D and attitudes to investment in R&D.
We then consider how to engage different audiences; we ask what opportunities people have to engage with R&D and their appetite to hear more. We explore the fundamentals of any successful and targeted campaign: choosing the right terminology, the right messages and the right messengers; understanding what issues matter to people; and what visual concepts are most appealing.
Finally, we explore how to divide up our audiences in different ways through a segmentation analysis.
Our February 2023 Trends report highlights the eight key trends we see in our data. Read the Trends report
Our briefings focuses on specific R&D actors, topics and public audiences. Read our Briefings
Where is the R&D sector starting from with public opinion? Explore current knowledge of R&D, its benefits and attitudes towards investing public money into it.
How much do people know about R&D?
What do people think are the benefits of R&D?
Do people think we should invest in R&D?
How can R&D advocates best convey their message? Explore how language, messengers and issues influence how different audiences respond to R&D messages.
What opportunities do people have to engage with R&D and do they want more?
What is the best way to talk to the public about R&D?
What does and doesn’t resonate with the public when talking about R&D?
Who do the public want to hear from about R&D, and why?
What issues do the public care about – and do they think R&D can help?
Which visuals are most successful with different audiences?
How can we use the attitudes that people share to better understand our audiences?
We want to share the data we’re collecting and how we’re using it. Explore our methods and download the data tables
Details of the quantitative and qualitative methods used to produce our public opinion data.
Our data is open-source, download the data tables here.
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