Team:BGU Israel/Survey

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BGU_Israel

Survey Understanding Public's Opinion
    There has never been a large-scale survey in Israel about synthetic biology and genetic engineering. Therefore, our first step was to undertake a massive public opinion survey to learn about the current state of public opinion, and hopefully understand the roots of opposition to synthetic biology.

    In the past few years, a number of public opinion surveys have been undertaken in various countries regarding new biological technologies, including synthetic biology. We based our survey on the strong, high-quality foundations of past efforts from across the world, including studies done in the United States[1], the United Kingdom[2], Japan[3], and New Zealand [4].

    Two questions must be asked before presenting the questionnaire and the results: Why bother conducting such a survey? And what did we intend to learn from it?

    We wanted to canvass Israeli public opinion about synthetic biology because first of all, we couldn’t find any similar survey done in the past in Israel, and secondly, scientific progress tends to outpace public perception. We believe synthetic biology holds great potential for ecological, medical, and other projects, but nothing can be implemented without public support. For that to happen, we first need to understand how much people know about genetic engineering and synthetic biology, and what their concerns and thoughts are.

    Our survey was answered by 1080 Israelis, from a variety of age groups and backgrounds. The questionnaire was published online and hard copies were distributed in a number of venues in an attempt to reach a wider variety of participants.

    The Questionnaire:
    Ten questions were translated to Hebrew from the surveys mentioned above, some slightly modified to be more comprehensive and generic. In addition, one question was added that relates to our project specifically.

    The personal details asked were minimal, to make survey as convenient and fluent as possible, and included: age, gender, religion & education.

    Read thefull survey in English.

    Read theSurvey results and analysis.




    References
    [1] [Hart Research Associates . “Awareness & Impressions of Synthetic Biology– a Report of Findings”. September, 2010. (accessed August 2013).   Click here  to view the full research.
    [2] Lock, Roger; Miles, Colin. “Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering: Students' Knowledge and Attitudes”. 1993.(accessed August 2013).   Click here  to view the full research.
    [3] Macer, Darryl; Chen Ng; Mary Ann. “Changing Attitudes to Biotechnology in Japan”. September, 2000. (accessed August 2013).  Click here   to view the full research.
    [4] Royal Commission on Genetic Modification, New Zealand . “Analysis of Public Opinion Survey”. 2002.(accessed August 2013).  Click here  to view the full research.