Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

These vignette studies form part of a wider project to provide a basic understanding of current attitudes among the public towards a range of new genetic technologies. Public attitudes and behaviour toward developments in this area of science are likely to be conditional, at least in part, upon consideration of contextual factors. The vignette studies were designed specifically to investigate:

• the effect of contextual factors upon intended behaviour and the cognitive and affective components of attitudes
• the degree to which simple survey attitude questions might hide genuinely ambivalent responses to genetic technologies
• the extent to which any context effects are domain specific (the domains being human, plant and animal applications of genetic technologies)

Main Topics:

Quasi-experimental vignette studies were devised on the six topics: stem-cells; genetic testing; genetically modified (GM) crops; gene patenting; reproductive technologies; human cloning. Each study required participants to complete a short baseline survey. They were then randomly allocated one of four written scenarios about one of the genetic technologies which emphasised a particular aspect of its application or the context in which it was situated. A further set of questions was then completed about the respondent's attitude, feelings and intended behaviour with regard to the scenario they received. Each participant completed two studies. The file includes data from the vignettes and baseline survey.