Candidate Countries Eurobarometer 2002.3, October-November 2002: Science and Technology (ICPSR 4139)

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The Candidate Countries Eurobarometer (CCEB) series, first conducted in 2001, gathers information from the countries applying to become members of the European Union (EU) in a way that allows direct comparison with the standard Eurobarometer series carried out in the existing EU countries. The CCEB provides decision-makers and the European public with opinion data on the similarities and differences between the EU and the candidate countries. The CCEB continuously tracks support for EU membership in each country and records changes in attitudes related to European issues in the candidate countries. This round of the CCEB surveys was conducted between October 16 and November 17, 2002, in the 13 candidate countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey. Respondents were queried on how interested and informed they were about science and technology, sports, politics, economics and finance, and culture, which professions they held in high regard (e.g., judges, medical doctors, politicians, or scientists), and who they would trust to explain the reasons for a major disaster (e.g., scientists, journalists, or government representatives). Respondents were asked which scientific and technological developments interested them most (e.g., medicine, genetics, astronomy and space, or the Internet), how scientific they felt certain subjects were, such as biology, history, economics, mathematics, or sociology, and whether they understood certain concepts and phenomena as reported in the newspapers and on the television, like air pollution, global warning, the greenhouse effect, holes in the ozone layer, nanotechnologies, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease). Respondents were further asked a series of true and false questions regarding science-based statements (e.g., the center of the Earth is hot, radioactive milk can be safe if boiled, electrons are smaller than atoms, the Sun goes around the Earth, and human beings developed from earlier species of animals). Respondents were also asked if they agreed with statements concerning science and technology and how science and technology affected or will affect everyday living, the environment, industrial development, and the fight to cure illnesses. Respondents were further questioned on whether they agreed with statements concerning ethical standards, genetically modified food, the way in which the media reported on science and technology, and the responsibility of scientists, politicians, farmers, and the food industry in relation to mad cow disease. The survey also addressed policy areas in which the EU should or should not be active (e.g., agriculture, environment, international trade, foreign affairs, defense, energy, consumer protection, employment and social affairs, and regional development), as well as how research carried out at the national level compared to research at the EU level and whether the respondent agreed with a series of statements regarding important scientific and technological developments (i.e., the Internet and biotechnology) originating outside of Europe. Demographic variables include sex, age, nationality, marital status, level of education, current occupation, income, whether the respondent lived in a rural area or village, small or middle sized town, or large town, religious affiliation, and voting intent.

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