Study title

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...