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Published on: May 28, 2007
Public attitudes to genomic science: an experiment in information provision
Patrick Sturgis1, Ian Brunton-Smith, Chris Fife-Schaw
1Division of Social Statistics, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK. p.sturgis@soton.ac.uk
Abstract:
We use an experimental panel study design to investigate the effect of providing "value-neutral" information about genomic science in the form of a short film to a random sample of the British public. We find little evidence of attitude change as a function of information provision. However, our results show that information provision significantly increased dropout from the study amongst less educated respondents. Our findings have implications both for our understanding of the knowledge-attitude relationship in public opinion toward genomic science and for science communication more generally.
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