Suchergebnisse

Genetic engineering has the potential to become a key technology of the 21st century. However, the introduction of genetic engineering is socially controversial and is met with mistrust, concern and rejection from the population in a number of applications.
The research project consists of several parts. On the one hand, it is a media content analysis in which the thematization and framing of genetic engineering is examined in daily newspapers and television broadcasts. On the other hand, public opinion on genetic engineering is collected by means of standardised surveys (Eurobarometer). The data from this survey is available on FORSbase. These two methods are supplemented by in-depth qualitative procedures in focus groups through in-depth interviews. Finally, the results of the study are to be verified and diffused in round tables with key actors. By using several instruments - method triangulation - the complexity of the topic and the dynamics of public opinion formation can be taken into account. In addition, this sophisticated design makes it possible to develop methodical innovations at the intersections between the various components.
Switzerland is a particularly interesting field of research for such an investigation, since in this country there is an intensive public discussion of genetic engineering in international comparison. At the same time, intensive media coverage and a high level of public knowledge interact with a pronounced degree of ambivalence or scepticism towards genetic engineering. The project aims to examine the significant cultural differences between German and French-speaking Switzerland by consistently parallelizing the methods.
The project is conceived as a continuation and deepening of a European comparative, interdisciplinary project in which the applicants have already participated in a first phase (see project nr. 6332). The integration into this international framework guarantees the intercultural comparability of the data as well as a longitudinal perspective. This study can make an important contribution to basic research on processes of opinion- and confidence-building in the dynamic field of future technologies. In addition, this project aims to gain insights that will be of importance for the communicative practice of science and journalism, but also for politics and business in the field of risk communication via genetic engineering.
The representative surveys on the level of knowledge and the attitudes of the population towards genetic engineering were carried out analogously to the two so-called Eurobarometer surveys, which were carried out in a first wave in October/November 1996 and for the second time in the winter of 1999 in 15 European countries.
Unfortunately, for financial and logistical reasons, the field work in Switzerland could only be carried out six months later between 20 May and 10 June 1997 and the second time - three years later - between the end of May and mid-June 2000.
In contrast to the international Eurobarometer Survey, in the first Swiss survey the media coverage of the "Dolly" case, critical of genetic engineering, on the one hand, was noticeable. On the other hand, it played an important role that the Swiss population had to vote on the so-called "Gene Protection" initiative on June 7, 1998, and media coverage was therefore already very intensive a year earlier.
The situation before and during the second survey, on the other hand, was completely different, as the "gene protection" initiative had been rejected with a two-thirds majority a year earlier and genetic engineering was therefore only given a rather low priority by the media.
The Swiss Eurobarometer Surveys are a personal survey of two representative samples of approximately 1000 citizens aged 18 and over. Because of the three language regions, three questionnaire variants had to be used, but they were largely identical to the Eurobarometer questionnaires of Germany, France and Italy. In addition, however, some new questions were included in the Swiss questionnaire. The two surveys also differ in that in the second wave, in coordination with the international project, certain questions were asked anew and others from the first wave were no longer used.
FORS archives the data of both Eurobarometer surveys. This document refers to Eurobarometer 2000 and the data from the 1997 survey are archived and described under FORSbase nr. 6332.