Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Science Communication
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rowe, G.
Right arrow Articles by Pidgeon, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

A Comparison of Responses to Internet and Postal Surveys in a Public Engagement Context

Gene Rowe

Institute of Food Research, gene.rowe{at}bbsrc.ac.uk

Wouter Poortinga

University of East Anglia

Nick Pidgeon

University of East Anglia

Involving the public in policy setting, or public engagement, is becoming increasingly popular in many democratic societies. Among the various ways of enacting engagement, the use of the Internet to either collect opinions or conduct public debate is seen as holding out great promise. However, the benefits of using the Internet over other communication media are uncertain because empirical research is limited. This article describes a comparison of data collected through two different media in the context of a "real-life" event, the 2003 U.K. "GM Nation?" public debate. The results suggest that demographically, the samples answering the questionnaires in the different formats differed significantly. However, there were no consistent differences between the approaches on a number of response effects.

Key Words: Internet • surveys • public engagement • public participation • agricultural biotechnology

Science Communication, Vol. 27, No. 3, 352-375 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1075547005284668
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Public Understanding of ScienceHome page
T. Horlick-Jones, G. Rowe, and J. Walls
Citizen engagement processes as information systems: the role of knowledge and the concept of translation quality
Public Understanding of Science, July 1, 2007; 16(3): 259 - 278.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Public Understanding of ScienceHome page
R. Schibeci and J. Harwood
Stimulating authentic community involvement in biotechnology policy in Australia
Public Understanding of Science, April 1, 2007; 16(2): 245 - 255.
[Abstract] [PDF]