UEA-MORI Risk Survey, 2002

This study investigated public attitudes towards science, risk and forms of governance. The centrepiece was a major quantitative survey conducted with ESRC support, and linked to the <i>Programme on Understanding Risk</i>, a major research programme (2001-2005) supported by the Leverhulme Trust. The quantitative survey covered five core issues selected by the programme for detailed investigation, namely: climate change; radiation from mobile phones; radioactive waste; genetically modified food; and genetic testing. These cases were chosen, as all are prominent within UK society, and have complementary as well as contrasting facets. Each issue contains, among others, the following elements: they all relate to scientific knowledge, public trust in science and scientific procedures, interrelationships with business, civil society and government, and matters of democratic choice, freewill and tolerance of collective decisions; they all test governmental competence as well as scientific authority, especially when scientific interpretations clash with wider values such as free choice, democratic accountability and the role of business and civil society in changing patterns of governance; they are all themes that are covered by various surveys of public opinion, but where a richer set of contextually referenced and comparative data is lacking. <br> <br> The study is designed to provide theoretical progress and integration in the field of risk perception and representation, facilitating advances in our theoretical understanding of public framings and attitudes towards science and risk issues. It is also intended to provide scientists and policy makers with an understanding of how the public views and characterises science and scientific procedures in settings where risk and policy interact.<br> <br> A later survey by the same research team, the 'UEA-MORI Genetically-modified (GM) Food Survey, 2003' uses questions on GM foods from this study, and is held at the UK Data Archive under SN:5027.