Resumo

DOMINGUEZ GUTIERREZ, Silvia. Meaning fields of the scientific activity amongst university students. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2013, vol.35, n.140, pp.28-47. ISSN 0185-2698.

This study has as purpose to show the beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and stereotypes of university students about scientific research. In order to reach it, the author carried out an exercise based on associative questions, individual and group interviews and a multiple choice questionnaire that was proposed to 273 students enrolled at two university centers at Guadalajara University (Universidad de Guadalajara). The information was then analyzed by means of the mixed content technique (open answers) and the statistic program SPSS (multiple choice questionnaire). The results show that most of the interview students have erroneous conceptions about the scientific duty and a very imprecise picture about the scientist and the domain and space in which he/she works. Since those social representations have been built throughout the student's academic life by several media (formal and informal), the author considers that it is essential to analyze them in order to increase the interest about scientific activity amongst the students.

Palavras-chave : Meaning fields; Social representations; Scientific activity; Science; University students.