Public Understanding of Genomics and the Dynamics of Opinion Change: a Panel Study, 2003-2004

At a time when gene technologies are gaining increasing prominence, this research enabled a better understanding of how the dynamics of public attitudes towards genomics are underpinned by factual knowledge. It examined the extent to which a more knowledgeable public adopts attitudes that are more favourable, or opposed, to genetic science and whether this kind of information is of any real importance in shaping attitudes over time.<br> <br> This was achieved by taking a sample of respondents from the British Social Attitudes Survey, 2003 (BSA 2003 - not currently held at the UK Data Archive) and using them as the basis of an innovative panel study. Approximately six months after the initial survey, a random sample of BSA 2003 respondents were re-contacted for a second interview and randomly split into three equal groups, with two groups being exposed to a video film intervention that provided information on genetics: for one group, the film included additional information on the regulation of genetic technology, but for the other group it did not. The third group acted as a control. Immediately after the intervention, these respondents were re-interviewed using a subset of genomics-based questions from the BSA, and further questions relating to the intervention. <br> <br> A second follow-up interview was conducted by telephone three months later, using the same subset of questions, which allowed a detailed assessment of the longer-term impact of scientific knowledge on attitudes to genomics. It has thus been possible to determine the nature of the lag between the reception of information and attitude change, whether different domains of factual knowledge vary in their effect on attitudes over time, and how the knowledge-attitude relationship is mediated and moderated by individual characteristics.