APPENDIX 6
Survey Data on Public Attitudes to Science
Table 1
SELF-REPORTED LEVELS OF INTEREST IN
|
| Sports in the news
| Politics | New medical discoveries
| New films | New inventions and technologies
| New scientific discoveries
|
| % |
% | %
| % | %
| % |
|
| Very interested | 29.0
| 15.7 | 43.8
| 16.4 | 34.6
| 35.7 |
| Moderately interested | 37.2
| 52.2 | 45.8
| 43.2 | 47.8
| 45.8 |
| Not at all interested | 33.5
| 31.7 | 10.0
| 40.0 | 17.2
| 18.0 |
| (Don't know) | 0.1
| 0.1 | 0.2
| 0.1 | 0.2
| 0.3 |
| (Refusal/NA) | 0.3
| 0.3 | 0.3
| 0.3 | 0.3
| 0.3 |
|
Source: Durant/Bauer 1996.
Table 2
CONFIDENCE
IF THEY MADE A STATEMENT ABOUT BSE
|
| In whom would you have most confidence?
| In whom would you have next most confidence?
| In whom would you have least confidence?
|
| %
| % | %
|
|
| A scientist in a government department |
4.6 | 11.3
| 26.4 |
| A scientist in a consumer organisation |
18.0 | 35.4
| 1.5 |
| A scientist in a university | 42.0
| 23.0 | 0.5
|
| A scientist in the meat industry | 26.7
| 8.8 | 13.5
|
| A scientist writing in a newspaper | 0.9
| 10.1 | 2.4
|
| A journalist writing in a newspaper | 0.4
| 1.1 | 52.0
|
| (None of these) | 4.5
| 2.0 | 1.0
|
| (Don't Know) | 2.3
| 3.0 | 2.1
|
| (Refusal/NA) | 0.6
| 5.2 | 0.6
|
|
IF THEY MADE A STATEMENT ABOUT THE SAFETY OF NUCLEAR POWER
STATIONS
|
| In whom would you have most confidence?
| In whom would you have next most confidence?
| In whom would you have least confidence?
|
| %
| % | %
|
|
| A scientist in a government department |
4.5 | 13.6
| 20.6 |
| A scientist in an environmental campaign group
| 21.0 | 26.9
| 2.8 |
| A scientist in a university | 43.2
| 23.7 | 0.3
|
| A scientist in the nuclear power industry |
22.9 | 12.7
| 16.4 |
| A scientist writing in a newspaper | 1.4
| 11.6 | 2.0
|
| A journalist writing in a newspaper | 0.3
| 1.1 | 53.2
|
| (None of these) | 3.1
| 2.3 | 1.0
|
| (Don't know) | 3.0
| 4.3 | 3.0
|
| (Refusal/NA) | 0.6
| 3.7 | 0.6
|
|
Source: Durant/Bauer 1996.
Table 3
UNDERSTANDING AND ATTITUDES
Understanding Methods of Scientific Analysis
EXPERIMENT, CONTROL GROUP AND PROBABILITY CORRECT ANSWERS
FOR EC12, 1992 IN PER CENT
|
| Country | Experiment
| Control Group |
Probability | Average
|
|
| Denmark | 56
| 84 | 76
| 72 |
| United Kingdom | 58
| 79 | 74
| 70 |
| Netherlands | 49
| 79 | 79
| 69 |
| Luxembourg | 48
| 70 | 74
| 64 |
| Belgium | 48
| 70 | 72
| 63 |
| France | 44
| 70 | 71
| 62 |
| EC12 | 45 |
65 | 71
| 60 |
| Germany (West) | 41
| 57 | 79
| 59 |
| Germany (East) | 44
| 51 | 78
| 58 |
| Ireland | 40
| 68 | 64
| 57 |
| Italy | 42
| 64 | 66
| 57 |
| Spain | 46
| 59 | 63
| 56 |
| Greece | 34
| 57 | 61
| 51 |
| Portugal | 19
| 53 | 45
| 39 |
|
Source: Eurobarometer Surveys.
Table 4
BENEFIT, RISK AND MORALITY
Table 5
TRUST
First of all, I would like to begin by reading out a list
of different types of people. For each, would you tell me whether
you generally trust them to tell the truth or not?
|
| Tell truth
| Not tell truth |
Don't know |
|
| %
| % | %
|
| Doctors | 89
| 8 | 3
|
| Teachers | 88
| 7 | 5
|
| Clergymen or priests | 86
| 9 | 5
|
| Television news readers | 75
| 17 | 8
|
| The Police | 70
| 23 | 7
|
| The ordinary man or woman in the street |
58 | 26
| 16 |
| Civil servants | 52
| 35 | 13
|
| Trade Union Officials | 40
| 39 | 21
|
| Government Scientists | 38
| 46 | 16
|
| Business leaders | 35
| 49 | 16
|
| Politicians generally | 19
| 73 | 8
|
| Government Ministers | 17
| 71 | 12
|
| Journalists | 10
| 82 | 8
|
|
| | |
|
Thinking now about pollution, which two or three, if any,
of these sources would you trust most to advise you on the risks
posed by pollution?
|
| %
|
|
| Pressure Groups (eg Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth)
| 61 |
| Independent Scientists (eg university professors)
| 60 |
| Television | 25
|
| Government Scientists | 23
|
| Friends or family | 15
|
| Newspapers | 14
|
| Government Ministers | 6
|
| Private companies | 5
|
| Politicians generally | 4
|
| Civil servants | 3
|
| Other | * |
| None of these | 2
|
| Don't know | 2
|
|
Now thinking about BSE, which two or three of these sources
would you trust most to advise you on the risks posed by BSE?
|
| | % |
|
| Independent Scientists (eg university professors)
| 57 |
| Farmers | 22
|
| National Farmers Union | 21
|
| Civil Servants at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
| 18 |
| Government Scientists | 17
|
| Television | 16
|
| Newspapers | 12
|
| Food Manufacturers | 11
|
| Friends/family | 9
|
| Supermarkets | 6
|
| Government Ministers | 4
|
| Politicians generally | 2
|
| Other | 1 |
| None of these | 4
|
| Don't know | 3
|
|
Source: Better Regulation Task Force/MORI 9-19 January
1999. Base: 1,015 adults aged 16+.
Table 6
BENEFICIAL DEVELOPMENTS
|
Q. On this card is a list of various scientific developments. Which two or three would you say have been beneficial for society as far as you are aware?
Q. And which two or three would you say have not been beneficial for society, as far as you are aware?
| Beneficial
% |
Not
Beneficial
%
| NET
% |
|
| Medicines/New drugs/Penicillin/Antibiotics/Vaccines etc
| 57 | 1
| +56 |
| Transplants eg of heart, liver, kidneys etc
| 51 | 1
| +50 |
| Cures for or eradication of illnesses/diseases
| 43 | 1
| +42 |
| New operations/Surgery | 31
| * | +31
|
| Computers/The Internet/E-mail | 28
| 4 | +24
|
| Genetic testing or screening for particular things, eg diseases
| 24 | 2
| +22 |
| Discovering global warming/Climate Change/Disruption to weather patterns/Greenhouse Effect
| 19 | 6
| +13 |
| New and alternative sources of energy | 17
| 4 | +13
|
| New telecommunications (fax machine/mobile phone/TV)
| 14 | 5
| +9 |
| Test tube babies/In-vitro fertilisation |
11 | 9
| +2 |
| Faster/cheaper travel | 6
| 16 | -10
|
| Robots in industry and medicine | 3
| 18 | -15
|
| Splitting the atom | 4
| 20 | -16
|
| Space Research/Sending people to the moon |
2 | 25
| -23 |
| Genetic modification/engineering of animals and plants
| 1 | 28
| -27 |
| Genetically modified food | 1
| 45 | -44
|
| Cloning/Dolly the sheep | 2
| 57 | -55
|
| Other | * |
* | |
| No. none spring to mind | *
| 5 | |
| Don't know | *
| 1 | |
|
Source: MORI/OST 13 March to 14 April 1999.
Base: 1,109 British adults.
Table 7
REGULATION OF BIOSCIENCES
Q. Which, if any, of the following types of people
should be involved in making decisions on your behalf in the regulation
of the biological sciences?
Q. And for each of these types of people or institutions,
would you tell me whether you trust them or not, to make decisions
on your behalf in the regulation of the biological sciences?
|
| Should be
involved
| Trust | Not trust
| Don't know | Not trust
|
| % | %
| % | %
| ±% |
|
| GPs/Family Doctors | 37
| 71 | 13
| 16 | +58
|
| Hospital Doctors | 36
| 69 | 13
| 18 | +56
|
| An Advisory Body to Government, composed of people representing different viewpoints
| 48 | 66
| 13 | 21
| +53 |
| An Advisory Body to Government, composed of experts
| 45 | 62
| 19 | 19
| +43 |
| Pharmacists/Chemists | 22
| 56 | 20
| 24 | +36
|
| Environmental Groups | 40
| 56 | 21
| 23 | +35
|
| Nurses | 10 |
54 | 20
| 26 | +34
|
| Vets | 17 |
54 | 22
| 24 | +32
|
| Scientists | 47
| 55 | 26
| 19 | +29
|
| Consumer Groups | 31
| 48 | 26
| 27 | +22
|
| The General Public | 46
| 43 | 30
| 27 | +13
|
| Patients | 19
| 35 | 32
| 33 | +3
|
| Animal Welfare Groups | 26
| 35 | 38
| 27 | -3
|
| Governments | 41
| 35 | 43
| 23 | -8
|
| Sociologists | 12
| 27 | 36
| 37 | -9
|
| Farmers | 17
| 26 | 50
| 24 | -24
|
| Religious organisations | 12
| 22 | 51
| 27 | -29
|
| The Media | 11
| 12 | 69
| 20 | -57
|
| Industry/manufacturers | 16
| 11 | 70
| 19 | -59
|
| Retailers | 7
| 9 | 70
| 21 | -61
|
| Other | 2 |
| | |
|
| No-one/None of these | *
| | | |
|
| Don't know | 1
| | | |
|
|
Source: MORI/OST 13 March-14 April 1999. Base:
1,109 British adults.
Table 8
BIOSCIENCES: RIGHT OR WRONG?
|
| Q. Now thinking about biological developments again, what things, if any, do you think you would personally take into account if you were deciding whether a particular development was right or wrong?
| First
mention
%
| Any
mention
%
|
|
| Whether it would help people/be beneficial |
15 | 33
|
| Whether it harmed people | 10
| 29 |
| Ethics/Morals/Whether it was right or wrong/whether it was for the general good
| 12 | 22
|
| Whether it had been tested properly/was safe
| 5 | 20
|
| Whether the benefits outweighed the risks |
8 | 19
|
| Whether it had side effects | 3
| 17 |
| Whether animals would be harmed | 6
| 16 |
| Whether it interfered with nature | 5
| 16 |
| Consideration for future generations | 3
| 11 |
| Whether it was controllable/well regulated |
2 | 9
|
| Whether it was useful to me/people | 2
| 9 |
| (Others 5% and below omitted) |
| |
| Don't know | 1
| |
| Any mention | 82
| |
|
Source: MORI/OST 13 March-14 April 1999. Base:
1,109 British adults.
Table 9
EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS
Q1.a
On balance, do you agree or disagree that scientists should
be allowed to conduct any experiments on live animals?
Q1.b
Some scientists are developing and testing new drugs to reduce
pain, or developing new treatments for life-threatening diseases
such as leukaemia and AIDS. By conducting experiments on live
animals, scientists believe they can make more rapid progress
than would otherwise have been possible. On balance, do you agree
or disagree that scientists should be allowed to conduct any experiments
on live animals? Single code only.
|
| Q1a
(949)
%
| Q1b
(1,060)
%
| Difference
1a-1b
±
|
|
| Strongly agree | 4
| 13 | +9
|
| Tend to agree | 20
| 32 | +12
|
| Neither agree nor disagree | 11
| 13 | +2
|
| Tend to disagree | 20
| 16 | -4
|
| Strongly disagree | 44
| 25 | -19
|
| Don't know | 1
| 2 | +1
|
| AGREE | 24
| 45 | +21
|
| DISAGREE | 64
| 41 | -23
|
| NET AGREE | -41
| +4 | +45
|
|
Source: New Scientist/MORI 5-8 March 1999. Base:
2,009 adults aged 15+.
|
| To test whether an ingredient for use in cosmetics will be harmful to people
| To enable scientists to study how the sense of hearing works
| To test whether a garden insecticide will be harmful to people
| To ensure that a new painkilling drug is safe and effective
| To develop a new painkilling drug
| To ensure that a new vaccine against the virus that causes AIDS is safe and effective
| To develop a new vaccine against the virus that causes AIDS
| To ensure that a new drug to cure leukaemia in children is safe and effective
| To develop a new drug to cure leukaemia in children
|
| % |
% | %
| % | %
| % | %
| % | %
|
|
| Live mice—no pain, illness or surgery
|
| Approve | 38
| 70 | 56
| 74 | 73
| 77 | 77
| 83 | 83
|
| Disapprove | 61
| 27 | 42
| 24 | 25
| 20 | 19
| 15 | 15
|
| Don't know | 2
| 3 | 3
| 2 | 2
| 3 | 3
| 2 | 2
|
| Live mice—pain, illness or surgery
|
| Approve | 12
| 36 | 29
| 47 | 47
| 56 | 57
| 65 | 65
|
| Disapprove | 86
| 61 | 68
| 49 | 50
| 39 | 39
| 32 | 32
|
| Don't know | 2
| 4 | 3
| 4 | 3
| 5 | 4
| 4 | 4
|
| Live mice—some may die
|
| Approve | 13
| 39 | 32
| 50 | 48
| 59 | 60
| 69 | 68
|
| Disapprove | 84
| 57 | 65
| 46 | 47
| 36 | 36
| 28 | 28
|
| Don't know | 2
| 5 | 3
| 5 | 4
| 5 | 4
| 4 | 3
|
| Live monkeys—no pain, illness or surgery
|
| Approve | 30
| 56 | 43
| 65 | 64
| 69 | 69
| 75 | 75
|
| Disapprove | 68
| 40 | 53
| 31 | 32
| 28 | 28
| 23 | 22
|
| Don't know | 2
| 4 | 3
| 4 | 3
| 3 | 3
| 2 | 2
|
| Live monkeys—pain, illness or surgery
|
| Approve | 6 |
21 | 16
| 35 | 35
| 44 | 44
| 52 | 52
|
| Disapprove | 91
| 75 | 81
| 61 | 60
| 52 | 52
| 44 | 44
|
| Don't know | 2
| 4 | 3
| 4 | 4
| 4 | 4
| 5 | 5
|
| Live monkeys—some may die
|
| Approve | 5 |
22 | 17
| 34 | 33
| 42 | 43
| 53 | 53
|
| Disapprove | 92
| 73 | 79
| 61 | 63
| 53 | 53
| 43 | 43
|
| Don't know | 2
| 5 | 4
| 4 | 4
| 4 | 4
| 4 | 5
|
|
Source: New Scientist/MORI 5-8 March 1999. Base:
2,009 adults aged 15+.
Table 10
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Q. Do you agree or disagree? "Even the scientists
don't really know what they're talking about when it comes to
the environment".
|
| | 1989
| 1992 | 1993
| 1995 | 1996
| 1997 | 1998
|
| % | %
| % | %
| % | %
| % |
|
| General Public | |
| | |
| | |
| Agree | 36 |
37 | 41
| 36 | | 49
| 41 |
| Disagree | 37
| 38 | 34
| 35 | | 33
| 37 |
| Net agree | -1
| -1 | +7
| +1 | | +16
| +4 |
| Environment Journalists |
| | | |
| | |
| Agree | | |
19 | 21
| 31 | 16
| |
| Disagree | |
| 65 | 63
| 62 | 60
| |
| Net agree | |
| -46 | -42
| -31 | -44
| |
|
Source: MORI Annual Business and the Environment
study and Environment Journalists survey. (Don't knows omitted).
Base: c. 1,000 British adults each year, c. 25 environment
journalists each year.
|
