Team:Goettingen/Human Practice/Survey

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The idea of the survey

In order to find out more about the level of knowledge of the public to Synthetic Biology and related topics, we prepared a survey with 20 questions, which will be open for participation from the 24^th until the 31^st of August. The results will be presented at our information evening about Synthetic Biology on the 7^th of September. Feel free to participate! There will be also a raffle (see prizes) at the end.

To view our survey to the topic of Synthetic Biology, [http://igem.uni-goettingen.de/limesurvey/index.php?sid=38849&lang=de click here!]

Of course your personal data will not be shared with a third party, to view our data protection regulations: Click here!

Results of the survey

Our survey was conducted on the 25th of august in the city center of Göttingen. On this day 178 people answered our questions and 127 more completed our survey online during the next days. Overall, 55% of the participants were female and 45% male.

Age distribution

The age distribution of the participants was within our expectations for the city of Göttingen. About 20% of the inhabitants in Göttingen are students which creates a bias towards the 18-25 and 26-39 aged-groups. About one third of those polled stated that they possess an educational background in science.

What is a gene?

Only 58% were able to give the correct answer to this question. Those aged between 18 and 39 knew the correct answer in 68% of the cases. However the group above 40 years answered correctly in 46% of the cases. The reason for this result could be that genetics and molecular biology play a bigger role in biology nowadays. This trend is also reflected in the topics that are taught throughout schools.

How well do you feel to be informed about science/biotechnology?

The statements in response to this question show that only a small fraction of the polled feel very well or not at all informed. The majority stated that they were well to little informed.

What resources do you use to catch up on science/biotechnology?

As we expected the internet takes the top position as a resource for scientific knowledge. A closer look at the different age groups shows that 69% of those aged below 40 use the internet but only about 38% of the older groups. In the latter age group newspapers were the preferred resource for information. Surprisingly, above 44% stated that they obtain information from their social environment. TV was found to be an equally common resource throughout all age groups.

What is Escherichia coli?

The recent detailed news coverage of the E(A)HEC pathogen might be an explanation for the fact that 82% were able to state that E. coli is a gut bacterium. There were no significant differences between the distinct age groups. It should be added, that 92% of those who felt well informed (1-very well; 2-well) about science and biotechnology were able to answer this question. The people that stated they were not well informed about these topics (5-little; 6- not at all) only knew the correct answer in 69% of the cases.

What do you associate with “synthetic biology”?

The majority of the polled people associated synthetic biology with an artificial box of bricks. Furthermore, frequent answers were manufacturing of drugs, genetically altered food and decoding of the genome which are also topics linked to synthetic biology. 12% were not familiar with the term synthetic biology.

Do you think that Germany or the US is better positioned in scientific research?

Half of the polled think that Germany is less well positioned in science compared to the USA. The reasons for this are thought to be funding (49%), legal requirements (34%) and reputation of the research facilities (29%). Furthermore, 27% stated that the educational system and conditions of work are important reasons this positioning.

How much do you trust in science?

Overall about 50% have a strong or very strong trust in science. But noticeably, younger people seemed to show a stronger trust here (18-25 years: 71%, 26-39 years: 52%, above 39 years: 24%).

Genetic engineering in everyday life

The majority of the polled peopled do not support genetically altered crop plants (about 70%). Of those aged 39 years or less 26% approved genetically altered crop plants, whereas 61% did not. In contrast to this, only 8% of the age group 40 years or older approved here and 87% did not. The results for the use of the production of drugs differ from the previous. Here, 56% support the use of genetically altered microorganisms. 86% of the people that felt well informed about biotechnology (1-very good, 2-good) were in favor of this production method and 51% of those that felt less well informed (5-little, 6-not at all). It could be concluded that information can help to overcome skepticism. Concerning the use of genetically engineered organisms for the production of energy and fuels the opinions are polarized.

Have you ever used products that were produced with the help of genetically altered microorganisms?

In despite of the rejection of genetically altered products 74% were not able to state if they ever used products that were generated with the help of genetically altered microorganisms. Therefore, it can be concluded that the transparency about production techniques in these markets should be improved. Drugs like insulin or antibodies, detergents, crops (golden rice), functional sports gear (bioplastics) and flowers (blue Dianthus) are only a few examples for genetic engineering derived products in everyday life. In general, it seemed that the younger group in our survey (<40 years) was better informed.

Another question of our survey showed that about half of the people (food: 56%, fuels: 43%) seemed to be willing to buy products like genetically altered or engineered food and fuels when these were labeled safe by science. However, about a third of the polled reject such products no matter what.

Since 49% (food) respectively 66% (fuels) of the younger group, below 40 years, would buy fuels or food that are labeled healthwise and ecologically safe, trust in science seems to be confirmed. In this age group only 25% rejected such products while the amount increased to about 60 percent for the group above 40 years.

What danger do you think lies in genetically altered food?

About 60% of the polled fear diseases/allergies or hazards for the environment from genetically altered food products while only 10% have no doubts concerning this. Independent of age, about 77% support a labeling of meat that derives from animals which were fed with genetically altered feed.

Conclusion

The majority of the polled citizens were able to allocate biological terms correctly. However, they still felt only moderately informed about science and biotechnology. Trust in science does not seem to be a huge issue but partly dependent on age concerns about genetically altered food are present. As expected, the attitude towards genetic engineering in everyday life also showed to be somewhat age-dependent. In general, younger people felt to be informed better and willing to accept genetically altered products.

Prizes of the survey-lottery

Maybe you have already read about the "Göttinger Sieben". According to that number, we are able to raffle seven book prizes for the helping participation in our survey. Those were generous donated by [http://www.deuerlich.de/index.php?id=25 Deuerlich Göttingen]. The seven lucky winners of our prize draw will be chosen at random by given email adress. All winner have been contacted by email.

Possible prizes in a total value of about 100€ are shown here:

1. The book "Dark River" written by John Twelve Hawks and one [http://www.amazon.de/Putztuch-Handy-Displayputztuch-Frosch-Froschk%C3%B6nig/dp/B00859GVLU cleaning rag] for smart phones (various designs) by Rannenberg & Friends
2. The book "Dark River" written by John Twelve Hawks and one [http://www.amazon.de/Putztuch-Handy-Displayputztuch-Frosch-Froschk%C3%B6nig/dp/B00859GVLU cleaning rag] for smart phones (various designs) by Rannenberg & Friends
3. The book "Die neuen Abenteuer des kleinen Medicus" written by Dietrich H. W. Grönemeyer and one [http://www.amazon.de/Putztuch-Handy-Displayputztuch-Frosch-Froschk%C3%B6nig/dp/B00859GVLU cleaning rag] for smart phones (various designs) by Rannenberg & Friends
4. The book "Darwin für Kinder und Erwachsene" by Charles R. Darwin and one [http://www.amazon.de/Putztuch-Handy-Displayputztuch-Frosch-Froschk%C3%B6nig/dp/B00859GVLU cleaning rag] for smart phones (various designs) by Rannenberg & Friends and [http://www.buchkatalog.de/gtw-bin/gtwxml.cgi?opacdb=XMLKOD&uid=33403-ev5f8h2cunbls31qvrkiq4dmmjusbicf&intid=CPC2ZC0&ldbname=KV&a_full=xxx&longhtm=long&caller=33403&RECPOS=13&resultname=anzeige0&t_from=shortcfg&t_randomid=2012081515040117 hanging books] plus the little poem book "Am liebsten mag ich dich" written by Frantz Wittkamp
5. The book "Muskelentspannung nach Jacobson, m. Audio-CD" written by Anja and Aljoscha A. Schwarz and one [http://www.amazon.de/Putztuch-Handy-Displayputztuch-Frosch-Froschk%C3%B6nig/dp/B00859GVLU cleaning rag] for smart phones (various designs) by Rannenberg & Friends
6. A plain notebook and one [http://www.amazon.de/Putztuch-Handy-Displayputztuch-Frosch-Froschk%C3%B6nig/dp/B00859GVLU cleaning rag] for smart phones (various designs) by Rannenberg & Friends
7. A lined notebook and one [http://www.amazon.de/Putztuch-Handy-Displayputztuch-Frosch-Froschk%C3%B6nig/dp/B00859GVLU cleaning rag] for smart phones (various designs) by Rannenberg & Friends

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