Public engagement with biomedical science: An analysis of Black, Hispanic, and General Population adults in the United States

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to better understand public engagement with biomedical science across groups-especially those that have been historically marginalized by the medical science community. However, common approaches to studying group differences in science attitudes are often limited by small sample sizes or by categorizing individuals based on demographic variables, which may obscure meaningful variability within a given population. We recruited three probability-based samples of Black (N = 963), General Population (N = 957), and Hispanic (N = 964) adults living in the U.S. (October 21 - November 5, 2021). Employing a novel application of a non-negative matrix factorization model to conduct an attitudinal-based segmentation that categorized individuals based on distinct orientations toward biomedical science, our analysis revealed 10 unique mindsets across the three surveyed populations. Overall, our work underscores the value of recruiting independent samples from underserved and marginalized communities by revealing underexplored variation in how different publics orient toward biomedical science. TeaserUsing a values-based segmentation approach, we uncover 10 unique biomedical mindsets in the general, Black, and Hispanic adult populations in the U.S.