Eurobarometer 46.1 (1996)

Attitude to biotechnology, information technology and data protection. Attitude to the EURO. Topics of the next national elections. Topics: nationality (multiple responses possible); personal opinion leadership and frequency of political discussions; general attitude to membership of one´s country in the EU; advantageousness of this membership. 1. Biotechnology: expected improvements or worsening through the effects of new technologies such as solar energy, information technology, biotechnology, telecommunication, new materials and space research; associations with biotechnology; knowledge test in modern biotechnology and gene technology (scale); assessment of certain characteristics and abilities of humans as primarily inheritable or due to education and circumstances (scale); assessment of benefits and risks for society as well as the moral defensibility and degree to which deserving of support of biotechnology in production of foods, gene transfer to other types of plants, transfer of human genes to bacteria to produce medications, to breed gene-technologically altered animals in laboratory experiments, to transfer human genes to animals, for organ transplantation and to conduct genetic tests on people to be able to identify illnesses; attitude to biotechnology (scale); preferred institutions and organizations to supervise biotechnological research; expected effects from modern biotechnology in the next 20years; trustworthy sources of information on biotechnology; general assessment of importance of modern biotechnology (scale); sources of information used on biotechnology; frequency of conversations about biotechnology. 2. Election campaign: most important political topics for the next national election campaign; use of newspapers and magazines. 3. Currency: attitude to a European currency and most important reasons for or against a European currency; self-assessment of degree of information about the new European currency; knowledge about conditions for joining the currency union (test); preferred introduction date for the EURO; assessment whether the country of respondent will fulfill the conditions for the currency union in first or second introduction round; expectation of positive or negative consequences for the country of respondent in case of non-introduction of the European currency; knowledge about the EURO (test); expected effects of a common currency (scale); preference for extended introduction time interval for the new money; preferred time intervals for dual pricing in stores, on bills, bank account statements and salary statements before introduction of the conversion as well as after the introduction date; most important concerns in currency conversion; preferred institutions and topics for conducting an information campaign in connection with currency conversion; judgment on selected advertising slogans on currency conversion regarding their information content, their understandability, their persuasiveness and their relation to reality; preferred distribution channels for information on the European currency. 4. Information technology and data protection: interest in use of the Internet, computer or teletext use via the television set, in order to obtain access to various services such as contact with authorities from at home, newspaper use, product information, participation in conversation rounds and forums, sending e-mail, bank account management, booking travel and use of virtual realities; concern about leaving electronic traces behind in networks; extent of concern about passing on personal data to private businesses; use of new communication technologies depending on the data protection question; dependence of one´s own readiness for electronic payment on data protection; knowledge about the European data protection law; importance of data protection on European level as well as on world level; self-assessment on a left-right continuum. Demography: person responsible for shopping and housekeeping; self-classification as religious or atheist; frequency of church attendance. Also encoded were: date of interview; start of interview; length of interview; number of persons present during interview; willingness of respondent to cooperate; city size; ZIP (postal) code; sample point number.