Segmentation studies provide insights to better understanding attitudes towards science and technology

Craig Cormick; Lygia Malzoni Romanach

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2013.12.005

Segmentation studies provide insights to better understanding attitudes towards science and technology

Trends Biotechnol. 2014 Mar;32(3):114-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2013.12.005.

Authors

Craig Cormick¹, Lygia Malzoni Romanach²

Affiliations

¹ CSIRO Corporate Centre, Limestone Avenue, Campbell, ACT 2612, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Science into Society Group, CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering, PO Box 883, Kenmore QLD 4069, Australia.

PMID: 24560351
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2013.12.005

Abstract

Values-based studies of people's attitudes towards science and technology not only provide great insights into what drives different attitudes to issues like climate change and genetically modified foods, but allow for segmenting the general public by homogeneous values. Such segmentations both provide better predictions of people's attitudes to new technologies or contentious science issues than age, sex, or other standard demographics, and allow a better matching of different messages with different community values.

MeSH terms

Attitude*
Biotechnology / trends*
Climate Change
Demography
Public Opinion*