Participants distinguished Patient and Public Involvement as an activity involving patients and carers in research projects and programmes from Public Engagement in Science as an activity that aims to communicate research findings to the public, engage the public with broader issues of science policy or promote a greater understanding of the role of science in society. While participants demonstrated a range of attitudes to these practices, they shared a resistance to sharing power and control of the research process with the public and patients.

The researchers interviewed were prepared to engage with the public and patients, and listed the advantages of engagement. However, the study revealed few differences in their underlying attitudes towards the role of society in science (and science in society) to those reported in previous studies. Study participants shared a resistance to sharing power and control of the research process with the public and patients. To the participants, science remains the preserve of scientists, with patients and the public invited to ‘tinker at the edges’.

Read the abstract here.

18th November 2014