D3.3 REPORT ON THE VIGNETTE STUDY- Dataset

This supporting dataset of D3.3 reflects the results of a vignette survey study carried out in four European countries (Austria, Cyprus, Greece and Spain) with 155 citizens. Our objective was to explore whether methods addressing societal mistrust in science that were identified in previous VERITY deliverable D3.2 (Focus groups with Stewards of Trust investigating and evaluating methods to guide trust in science) work differently for two citizen groups with varying levels of trust in science. Our main assumption was that four key methods identified in D3.2, namely science communication, co-creation, benefit sharing and social media, would work differently for Group 1, consisting of younger (18-30 old), more educated, urban citizens, and for Group 2, consisting of older (50+ old), less educated, rural citizens.

Regarding limitations concerning the dataset structure and content, while it is collected from 4 different countries (Austria, Cyprus, Greece, and Spain), we could not conduct a cross-country analysis due to the limited sample size. Since we were aware of this limitation while designing the study, we intended to choose similar country cases in terms of their general attitudes towards renewable energies and wind farms. While all four country cases are similarly positive about wind farms, we must also acknowledge that Austria scores slightly higher in terms of the perceived negative effects of wind farms. Moreover, the vignette survey was conducted via an online link with Group 1 and via printed online copies with Group 2. These different formats might have some unaccounted impact on the D3.3 vignette study on responses. We adapted the survey format in a way that reached out to hard-to-reach populations like Group 2 (older, less educated, rural) and maximised the number of responses we collected. Lastly, although we tried to control for the ‘recency effect’ by randomising the order in which vignettes are introduced, we still need to acknowledge that the previous vignettes might have an unaccounted effect on the ways that the later vignettes are answered.