Eurobarometer 63.1 (Jan-Feb 2005)

This round of Eurobarometer surveys diverged from the standard
Eurobarometer measures and queried respondents on their opinions
regarding science and technology, social values, and services of
general interest.

Topics: Questions concerning the first topic focused on the
respondents´ attitudes toward science and technology issues including
what areas they were most interested, how informed respondents were in
general, and recent visits to a museum of science and technology or
another type of public museum. Other questions measured respondents´
level of trust in science, their views on the role science and
technology should have in improving the economy, the potential benefits
or harmful effects of science, and the role the European Community
plays in scientific research. Another topic covered was social values
in relation to science and technology. Respondents were asked how often
they thought about the meaning and purpose of life, about their
spiritual beliefs, what kind of family they grew up in, how often they
trusted other people, how satisfied they were with their lives, whether
a university education is more important for a man than for a woman,
and whether men make better political leaders than women. The surveys
also solicited respondents´ opinions with respect to developing
technologies (including solar energy, biotechnology, genetic
engineering, the Internet, nanotechnology), and possible applications
of science and technology over the next 20 years (such as cloning
monkeys or pigs for use in research into human diseases or cloning
human beings so that couples can have a baby even when one partner has
a genetic disease). Respondents were queried on their opinions about
humanity´s relationship to nature, what decisions about science and
technology should be based primarily on, how important they thought
science and technology would be for their society in ten years´ time,
and if what those who are involved in science and technology do has a
positive effect on society. Finally, the topic of services of general
interest (such as electricity, natural gas, fixed telephone, mobile
phone, postal services, local transport, rail transport, and air
transport) included questions regarding satisfaction with the provision
of services, accessibility, fairness in pricing, quality of service,
and customer service.

Demography: Age, gender, nationality, marital status, left-right
political self-placement, occupation, age at completion of education,
household composition, telephone equipment, religion, and region.