DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09698.v1
title: Eurobarometer 35.1: Public Transportation and Biotechnology, March-April 1991
title: Version 1

description: This round of Eurobarometer surveys focused on transportation and
 biotechnology (genetic engineering). In addition, respondents were queried on 
 standard Eurobarometer measures, such as whether they attempted to persuade 
 others close to them to share their views on subjects they held strong opinions
 about, whether they discussed political matters, what their country's goals 
 should be for the next ten or fifteen years, and whether their country had
 benefited from being a member of the European Community (EC). With respect to 
 transportation issues, the survey assessed how residents of urban areas 
 perceived the increase in car traffic and how they felt about its consequences, 
 including effects on air quality and the risk of accidents. Ratings were sought
 on the effectiveness of various proposals for solving traffic congestion. 
 Respondents were asked to indicate how well political decision-makers judged the
 feelings of the public on transportation issues, and which types of transport 
 should be preferred in policy decisions: cars versus public transportation, 
 cars versus cyclists, and cars versus pedestrians. They were asked to indicate 
 how frequently they used various types of transportation and their reasons for 
 using and for not using public transportation. Biotechnology was described as 
 the recent efforts of scientists to change human cells, micro-organisms like
 yeast, crops, and farm animals. Respondents were asked whether such science and
 technology in general was likely to improve life in the next 20 years. They were
 also asked for their views on the morality of applying biotechnology to animals
 and the value of specific areas of research like plant and animal breeding and 
 the development of hardier micro-organisms for food and waste processing. A 
 series of questions tested respondents' objective knowledge of biotechnology, 
 asking them to state whether particular domains such as cancer research or the
 treatment of hereditary human diseases were linked to biotechnology. In 
 addition, self-ratings of competency on these questions were obtained, and 
 respondents indicated and evaluated their sources of information on technology 
 and development. This survey also introduced a new set of questions on 
 individuals' personal experience with the Single European Market through the 
 purchase of goods or services from other member states of the EC. Respondents 
 were asked to provide objective information on the particular kinds of products
 or services bought or sold, and methods of payment used. They evaluated their 
 satisfaction with such transactions, and assessed the levels of quality and 
 standards expected from each of the EC member countries with which they had 
 dealt. Demographic data collected on respondents include gender, age, marital 
 status, occupation, religion and religiosity, age at completion of education,
 left-right political self-placement, political and trade union participation, 
 household income, number of people in household, number of children under 15 in
 household, subjective membership in social class, home ownership, type of 
 community, size of locality, and region of residence. Actively employed 
 respondents were asked a series of questions (A.1 to A.34) regarding health and 
 safety at work. For results see EURO-BAROMETER 35A: WORKING CONDITIONS, 
MARCH-APRIL 1991 [ICPSR 9696].
description: Multistage national probability samples.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Eurobarometer 35.1: Public Transportation and Biotechnology, March-April 1991
description: Citizens of the EC aged 15 and over residing in the 12 EC 
 member countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, 
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
description: (1) Data processing for this collection was performed at the 
 Zentralarchiv fur Empirische Sozialforschung (ZA) in Cologne, Germany. (2) A 
 split ballot was used for this data collection. Half of the respondents were 
 interviewed using the term "biotechnology" in Q.35 to Q.47 of the 
 questionnaire, and half using the term "genetic engineering". The variable V319
 indicates to which ballot each record corresponds. (3) Actively employed 
 respondents were asked a series of questions (A.1 to A.34) regarding health and
 safety at work. This series is not included in Eurobarometer 35.1, but instead 
 comprises EURO-BAROMETER 35A: WORKING CONDITIONS, MARCH-APRIL 1991 [ICPSR 
 9696]. (4) For 37 respondents V282 (D11 AGE EDUCATION) indicates a value which 
 is too high for their age (V284: D13 AGE EXACT). (5) The dates of the data 
 collection (April 2-April 22, 1991) provided in the technical specification 
 (see the questionnaire) do not correspond with the information in the dataset. 
 The correct dates of the data collection are March 28-April 30, 1991. (6) This 
 collection was originally released by ICPSR under the title EURO-BAROMETER 
 35.1: PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, SPRING 1991. (7) The codebook 
 and the data collection instrument are provided by ZA as Portable Document 
 Format (PDF) files. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems 
 Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe 
 Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is 
provided on the ICPSR Web site.