Scientists Less Sanguine About the State of the Field % of AAAS scientists saying begin this is a Subject: for science/their scientific specialty/to begin a career in their specialty For science
Scientists’ overall assessments of the field, while still mostly positive, are less upbeat than they were in 2009 when Pew Research conducted a previous survey of AAAS members.
Today, about half of AAAS scientists (52%) say this is good time for science, down 24 percentage points from three-quarters (76%) in 2009.
Scientists are more positive, by comparison, when it comes to the state of their scientific specialty. But here, too, scientists are less rosy in their assessments than five years ago: 62% of AAAS scientists say this is a good time for their specialty area, down 11 percentage points from 2009.
Some 59% of AAAS scientists say this is a good or very good time to begin a career in their specialty, down from 67% in 2009. Assessments about the state of their specialty for new entrants is about the same as 2009 for those focused on applied research (71% in 2009 and 69% today say it a good or very good time), but it is down 15 percentage points among those doing basic research, from 63% in 2009 to 48% today saying this is a good or very good time to begin a career in their specialty area.
Scientists Less Sanguine About the  | State of the Field  | % of AAAS scientists saying begin this is a Subject: for science/their  | scientific specialty/to begin a career in their specialty  | Bad time Good time  | For science  | 2014  | 48  | 52  | 2009  | 23  | 76  | 2009 2014 2009 2014 2009 To For begin their specialty a career 41 37 in 32 specialty 25 23  | For their specialty  | 2014  | 37  | 62  | 2009  | 25  | 73  | 2014  | 59  | 41  | 2009  | 32  | 67  | AAAS scientists survey Sept. 11- Oct. 13, 2014 Q1-2,34 AAAS  | scientists survey May 1- June 14. 2009 Those giving no answer  | are notshown.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 