Survey Questionnaire: Public Engagement with Science: A Survey for India Alliance Grantees

Lately, the Indian research ecosystem has seen an upward trend in scientists showing interest in communicating their science and engaging with non-scientific audiences; however, the number and variety of science communication or public engagement activities undertaken formally by scientists remains low in the country. There could be many contributing factors for this trend. To explore this further, the science funding public charity in India, DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance (India Alliance), in a first of its kind of study by a funding agency in India, surveyed its 243 research grantees in November 2020 requesting their views on public engagement with science in India through an online survey. The survey included both quantitative as well as open-ended questions to assess the understanding of, participation in, and attitude of India Alliance Fellows/Grantees towards public engagement with research, identify the enablers, challenges, and barriers to public engagement for India Alliance Fellows/Grantees, understand the specific needs (training/capacity-building, funding, etc.) and develop recommendations for India Alliance as well as for the larger scientific ecosystem in the country. The survey showed that India Alliance grantees are largely motivated to engage with the public about science or their research but lack professional recognition and incentives, training and structural support to undertake public engagement activities.

A shareable survey was designed using Microsoft Forms. The survey employed a mixed methods strategy and included 24 closed-ended questions (multiple choice and Likert scale) and nine qualitative questions, similar to open-ended questions. The questions were modelled on a similar survey carried out by Wellcome in 2016 to gather views of researchers on public engagement in Asia and Africa.

The survey was shared by email with 243 Indian researchers in receipt of India Alliance fellowships or grants, out of which 137 (male – 78; female – 59) responded to the survey. Of these, 90 respondents were basic science researchers, 22 were clinical researchers, and 25 were public health researchers. A majority, i.e. 81% of the respondents indicated working as an independent researcher for more than 4 years (time post-PhD). Furthermore, 58% of the respondents were based at research institutions, 18% at higher education institutions, and 17% at central, state and private universities; these organisations geographically represent around 31 cities of India (9 respondents chose to not reveal their host institution in the survey). Periodic reminders were sent by email to the fellows to complete the survey. Three fellows who received funding from India Alliance for their public engagement projects were contacted via email after the survey for their views (in 50-150 words) on the public engagement funding programme of India Alliance. They were informed that their input is intended to be included in a report of the survey results, and they can choose to either stay anonymous or be credited. The data was collected from 27 November 2020 until 28 April 2021.

Following the end of the survey, the data automatically mapped on Microsoft Excel was cleaned for duplication and errors. Microsoft Excel tools were used to analyse and visualise the data.

The study did not undergo a formal ethical clearance process as the primary objective of the study was to gather insights of grantees to inform India Alliance’s public engagement support mechanisms.  At the start of the survey, the objectives of the survey were clearly stated and the respondents were informed that the anonymized data of the survey may be communicated in the future. Participation in the survey was entirely voluntary.