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Researcher Responsibilities

Public Interest Matters

The research community, within both the public and private sectors, needs to shoulder two main responsibilities in relation to public interest matters.

The first is to attempt an accurate assessment of the potential implications for the public. The second is to ensure the timely and appropriate communication to the public of results if such communication is in the public interest. These twin responsibilities ought to be embedded within the culture of the research community as a whole. Once a decision has been taken to communicate results to the public, each researcher has to consider the question: what information about my results should I communicate? Many of the controversies that have arisen in recent times about research results are directly linked to problems in relating the new findings to public concerns and aspirations. Those outside the research community feel that the provision of appropriate context is a requirement when new research results are communicated. Some aspects of context are already normally considered by the research community during the communication of results to other researchers. These include the following:

• Indicators of the accuracy of the results
• Indicators of the integrity and credibility of the results e.g. management of competing interests
• Information about the ethical conduct of the research, for instance in terms of the use of animals or human subjects
• Indicators of uncertainty in the interpretation of results
• Expressions of risk that are meaningful
• Comparison of the new results with public perceptions, ‘accepted wisdom', previous results and official advice

These aspects are equally important in public communication. In addition researchers have a responsibility to communicate to the public appropriate context for new research that relates to:

• Eating or life-style habits of consumers
• The welfare of patients
• Personal security or other issues affecting the well-being of individuals
• The state of the environment
• Human society in general, either in Canada or abroad
• Public policy

It is beyond the scope of this study to examine the extensive literature on uncertainty and risk. Also the study has not considered whether action should be taken before it is certain that no harm will be done, or whether lack of full certainty is a justification for preventing an action that might be harmful. Such issues relate to applications of various versions of the precautionary principle and are much discussed.

This information was excerpted from the Royal Society's Science and the Public Interest brochure `Source: http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=2879`