This document summarizes a study on public engagement in science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy. The study identified six population segments based on levels of interest in and willingness to engage with STI. A nationwide survey in Japan used factor and regression analyses to determine four questions that characterize the six segments. The segments range from "Discouraged" and uninterested to "Empowered Sceptics" to "Trustful Engagers" who are positive about STI policy. The research suggests governments take different engagement approaches tailored to each public segment to improve STI policymaking.

1. Understanding the plurality of public interests
for open strategy in science and innovation
Go Yoshizawa
Makiko Suga
Mitsuru Kudo
Eri Mizumachi
Kei Kano
OECD BlueSky III, Ghent
21 September 2016

2. Introduction
• Why public engagement?
It may guarantee the diversity of evidence in the
sense that public opinions are qualitatively
different from expert knowledge
• What type of publics we need to engage?
• Who are the publics?
STI policymakers do not have a clear idea while
most citizens have never thought about
participating in public policy

3. Segmentation Methods
1. Demographics-based
• E.g. Science Indicators, Eurobarometers, PIAAC
• Segments the targeted population a priori
2. Statistics-based
• E.g. Public Attitudes to Science (PAS), UK
• Segments the population a posteriori
• Impossible to predict with which segment a
respondent will be clustered
3. Question-based
• E.g. State of Victoria in Australia

4. Victorian Segment Model
• Six population segments using a combination of
the three questions
1. Can you please tell me how interested you are in
science?
2. Do you actively search for information about
science and/or technology?
3. When you have looked for information about
science and technology in the past, have you
generally been able to find what you were looking
for?
• See Kano et al. at poster sessions

5. PESTI Segment Model
• ‘Framework for Broad Public Engagement in
Science, Technology and Innovation Policy’
(PESTI) project (2012-15)
• We assume that a person’s interest in STI does
not necessarily and clearly correspond to his/her
willingness to engage in STI policy
• Two strategies
1. Making an achievement in public segmentation for
policymaking
2. Facilitating citizens to make them consider
engagement in STI governance

6. Method and Analysis
• Nationwide face-to-face interview survey in 2013
collected 887 samples (44.4%) from Japanese
citizens aged 16+ using a two-stage stratified
random sampling method
• The factor analysis identified the STI-facilitating
factors, the scientific-literacy factors, and the
policy-influence factors
• Two stepwise multiple linear regression analyses
identified four explanatory variables

7. Factors in Public Engagement
Independent variable Coefficient Significance
Q10(1): Deregulation .099 .000
Q10(3): Access to comprehensible
science information
.163 .000
Q10(4): Public comments to the
government
.223 .000
Q10(6): Public support and engagement
in STI policy
.427 .000
Q6: Current level of your own influence
on policy related to S&T
.059 .014
Q7: Ideal level of your own influence on
policy related to S&T
.095 .032
R2 .661
R2 adjusted .658
F value 284.338 0.000

8. Decision Tree for Segmentation
Q. Which do you think would advance STI?

9. Population Segments
1 Discouraged Less confident about their ability to
access the information and policy
process on STI
25.0%
2 Independent
Engagers
Independent but keen about interaction
between the government and the public
5.8%
3 Uninterested Ignorant of and unconcerned about any
issues
6.3%
4 Empowered
Sceptics
Aware of their own policy influence but
negative about public engagement
3.9%
5 Trustful
Engagers
Positive about STI policy and reliant on
all the stakeholders
38.0%
6 Interested
Followers
Attracted to the development of
government policies and respectful to
professional experts
21.0%

10. Summary and Discussion
• Only four questions are sufficient to
characterise the six population segments for
public engagement in STI policy
• This research suggests that the government
should take different approaches to different
population segments for the public engagement
• Hope for numbers and narratives

11. Acknowledgements
• Noriko Suzuki (Tezukayama University)
• Nobuya Fujiwara (Onomichi City University)