@article{ref1,
title="Using surveys in public participation processes for risk decision making: the case of the 2003 British GM Nation? Public debate",
journal="Risk analysis",
year="2005",
author="Pidgeon, Nick F. and Poortinga, Wouter and Rowe, Gene and Jones, Tom-Horlick and Walls, John and O'Riordan, Tim",
volume="25",
number="2",
pages="467-479",
abstract="This article takes as its case study the &quot;GM Nation?&quot; public debate, a major participation process on the commercialization of agricultural biotechnology, which occurred in Britain during the summer of 2003. We investigate possible self-selection biases in over 36,000 open questionnaire responses on the risks and benefits of genetically modified crops and food obtained during GM Nation? A comparison sample of equivalent responses from a statistically representative sample (n = 1,363) of the British general public obtained shortly after the conclusion of the debate is reported. This comparison shows that the GM Nation? open responses were indeed not fully representative of British &quot;public opinion&quot; regarding agricultural biotechnology. Rather, such opinion is not a unitary whole, but fragmented, with considerable ambivalence coexisting alongside outright opposition to GM agriculture. The methodological implications for multistage participation processes are discussed: in particular, the need to anticipate outcomes of complex design decisions, and to include representative public surveys as standard where measures of broader public attitudes to risk are an important objective.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0272-4332",
doi="10.1111/j.1539-6924.2005.00603.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2005.00603.x"
}