DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03030
title: United States Biotechnology Study, 1997-1998
title: Archival Version

description: Fielded November 11, 1997, through February 14, 1998, this
 study collected data from United States citizens aged 18 and older
 regarding their interest in and attentiveness to selected current news
 issues, knowledge of and attitudes toward biotechnology, various forms
 of political participation, and knowledge of scientific
 concepts. Conducted not long after the 1996 Eurobarometer Survey
 (EUROBAROMETER 46.1: MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY, PRIVACY ON COMPUTER
 NETWORKS, AND THE COMMON EUROPEAN CURRENCY, OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1996
 [ICPSR 6940]), this study posed some questions similar to those asked
 of European respondents. To begin the interview, respondents were
 asked how interested they were in selected news issues, including
 agriculture and farm events, economic and business conditions, new
 scientific and medical discoveries, new inventions and technologies,
 environmental pollution, and quality and cost of health care services,
 and how well informed they felt about these issues. They were asked
 how often they read a newspaper, what magazines and newsletters they
 read regularly, and whether new technologies such as solar energy,
 computers and information technology, biotechnology, genetic
 engineering, telecommunications, and space exploration would improve
 our way of life over the next 20 years. Respondents were also queried
 on the meaning of the term "modern biotechnology" and asked if they
 had heard or read anything about modern biotechnology in the last
 three months, where they heard or read about it, what they had heard
 or read, and how they would get more information on the subject if
 they wanted it. They were asked if they knew about the cloning of Dolly
 the sheep, whether they understood the terms "DNA" and "molecule", and
 whether they knew about specific applications of biotechnology used
 for food and drink production, plant and crop genetics for pest
 resistance, human genetics for medicine and for organ transplant, and
 detection of serious diseases in unborn children. Respondents were
 also asked whether these applications were useful, risky, or morally
 acceptable to society, whether the practices should be encouraged, and
 how much trust they would have in groups such as the American Medical
 Association, the Food and Drug Administration, university scientists,
 food manufacturers, the National Institutes of Health, news reporters,
 the United States Department of Agriculture, TIME or NEWSWEEK, and
 CONSUMER REPORTS if these groups were to make public statements about
 the safety of biotechnology. Agreement or disagreement was sought
 regarding statements about topics such as informed citizens' influence
 on government science and technology policies, federal funding of
 knowledge-advancing scientific research, pain and injury to laboratory
 animals for human benefit, current biotechnology regulations, personal
 or family benefits from biotechnology, religion and biotechnology,
 public involvement in biotechnology policies, and whether respondents
 supported or opposed biotechnology and why. Respondents were read a
 list of human attributes, including eye color, intelligence,
 happiness, athletic ability, work attitude, and musical ability, and
 asked if they thought each was inherited or learned. They were
 further queried as to whether, in the next 20 years, modern
 biotechnology would cause a reduction in environmental pollution, world
 hunger, or the range of fruits and vegetables available, create new
 diseases, cure most genetic diseases, improve Third World natural
 resource yield, produce designer babies, or replace most existing food
 products. Respondents were asked for their understanding of the term
 "scientific study" and to determine the truth of a set of statements
 having to do with bacteria, viruses, senility, cloning, the human
 immune system, and animal, human, and plant genetics. In addition,
 they were asked how important biotechnology issues were to them
 personally, how informed they felt about biotechnology, and if they
 had ever talked about this subject with someone prior to the
 interview. Demographic attributes collected include political
 participation (including whether the respondent had written or spoken
 to any public official during the past year, their party affiliation,
 and who they voted for in 1996), religious affiliation and
 participation, marital status, number of adults and children in the
 household, educational attainment and field of study (including
 specific science and math courses taken in high school and any current
 studies), current employment status and occupation, computer usage at
 work, pets, language spoken at home, computer ownership, World Wide
 Web access and usage, smoking, geographic location, race, age, and
gender.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: United States Biotechnology Study, 1997-1998
description: (1) The data are provided as an SPSS portable file.
 (2) This collection has not been processed by ICPSR staff. ICPSR is
 distributing the data and documentation for this collection in
 essentially the same form in which they were received. When
 appropriate, documentation has been converted to Portable Document
 Format (PDF), data files have been converted to non-platform-specific
 formats, and variables have been recoded to ensure respondents'
 anonymity. (3) The codebook, data collection instrument, and
 frequencies are provided by ICPSR as a Portable Document Format (PDF)
 file. 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.