Team:WLC-Milwaukee/Survey
From 2014.igem.org
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<h1>Biotechnology Survey</h1> | <h1>Biotechnology Survey</h1> | ||
- | <p>Our project relies heavily on education for effective implementation. However, before one is able to educate, it is useful to gauge prior knowledge on the subject one wishes to educate about. The WLC iGEM Team worked to develop a survey to gauge knowledge as well as feelings towards biotechnology | + | <p>Our project relies heavily on education for effective implementation. However, before one is able to educate, it is useful to gauge prior knowledge on the subject one wishes to educate about. The WLC iGEM Team worked to develop a survey to gauge knowledge as well as feelings towards biotechnology. Our team faced challenges developing this survey. Biotechnology is a polarizing topic and therefore one needs to carefully sort through many biased sources to find a few fair ones involving biotechnology, specifically genetically modified organisms (GMOs). As an iGEM team, we wish to use biotechnology to solve problems in order to help others. To reach a middle ground of understanding between those who have positive feelings towards GMOs and those who feel negatively, it will be useful to assess their feelings quantitatively. </p> |
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- | <p> | + | <p>We developed questions that will hopefully be able to assess feelings towards GMOs. This year, we focused on survey development and assessing if those who are well educated in biotechnology will consistently trend towards the same side of our scale. |
+ | </p><p>We received responses from 18 current iGEM members (faculty and student population). The following statements were posed to the participants. The participants then rated each statement on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "strongly disagree" and 5 being "strongly agree." The participants were also given the option of "I do not know."</p> | ||
<h2>Knowledge Questions</h2> | <h2>Knowledge Questions</h2> | ||
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</p> | </p> | ||
- | <p><h2> | + | <p><h2>Pro GMO and Neutral Population</h2> This is a representation of the average response (on a scale of 1-5, explained above). The black thin bars represent a standard deviation. Blue represents the response of those who identified themselves as "neutral" feeling towards GMOs prior to the survey. Green represents those who identified themselves as "Pro-GMO" before the survey. </p> |
<img width="100%" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/e/ee/WLC-GMO_Feelings_Whole.png"> | <img width="100%" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/e/ee/WLC-GMO_Feelings_Whole.png"> | ||
<p>Figure 1 Discussion</p> | <p>Figure 1 Discussion</p> | ||
- | <p>At first glance, Neutral and Pro-GMO responders had similar answers. There was not a dramatic difference between any questions. | + | <p>At first glance, Neutral and Pro-GMO responders had similar answers. There was not a dramatic difference between any questions. As this population was involved in iGEM, we can assume at least a small base knowledge about GMOs. We were curious to see if more education would cause answers to be polarized. </p> |
+ | <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/37/WLCPronumberanalysis.png" class="centerIMG"> | ||
+ | <p>Overall, we did not see a high amount of difference between those who identified themselves as "Neutral" and those who identified themselves as "Pro-GMOs. | ||
+ | </p> | ||
+ | <p> | ||
+ | <b>Section Evaluation</b></p> | ||
+ | <p><i>Science</i></p> | ||
+ | <p> | ||
+ | Overall, there was disagreement that genetically modified organisms are dangerous to human health, all biotechnology companies are only interested in gaining larger profits, and that genetically modified animal feed harms animals being fed. There was agreement that genetic engineering can be a faster way of crossbreeding. The Pro-GMO population agreed with the statement that genetic engineering is safe, while the Neutral population had a neutral response.</p> | ||
+ | <p><i>Regulation</i></p><p> | ||
+ | Overall, responses averaged to be neutral but there was a stronger feeling toward the statements that genetically modified foods should be regulated by researchers.</p> | ||
+ | <p><i>Farming</i></p><p> | ||
+ | The responses in the farming section showed that both Pro GMO and Neutral populations generally agreed that GMOs reduce the need for herbicides/pesticides, that GMOs produce a greater amount of plants than non GMO, and that farmers who use GMO seed tend to make more profit than those who do not. However, it was found that the Pro GMO population trended to have stronger feelings of agreement. This is what we would expect, since they have identified themselves as having stronger feelings. These questions are also often asked in debate between Anti GMO and Pro GMO populations. Both groups of Neutral and Pro GMO disagreed that prohibiting GMOs would stop the emergence of herbicide resistant weeds. This would suggest that those who answered this question have the thought process that using GMOs are not related to crop’s herbicidal resistance. This essentially eliminates their concern for this and the survey population may be able to promote the use.</p> | ||
+ | <p><i>Use</i></p><p> | ||
+ | Responses of Pro GMO and Neutral populations also coincided in the Use section. There was slight agreement that we must currently use GMO food to feed the world, and strong agreement that they will be needed in the future to support the world's growing population. There was also agreement that GMOs as well as biotechnology have helped the survival of the human race. There was disagreement that GMO food should not be consumed or that GMOs are morally wrong or against God's Word.</p> | ||
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+ | <h2>Summer Camp Survey</h2> | ||
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+ | <img width="100%" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/b/b2/WLC-Correct_Camp_full.png"> | ||
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+ | <img width="50%" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/6/68/WLC_Survey_Selected_Camp.png"> | ||
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+ | <img width="50%" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/e/eb/WLC-Survey_Camp_Correct_numbers.png"> | ||
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+ | <p><b>Camp Survey Analysis</b></p> | ||
+ | <p>We were glad to see that our students answered number one more strongly to agree with scientists are able to extract genes from a glowing jellyfish and add the genes to the bacterium to make the bacterium glow as well as DNA being genetic information. We also were glad that they continued to disagree that genetic engineering is not important for medical research testing after they heard a presentation from Dr. Geurts about his application of genetic engineering in medicine. Our students disagreed strongly that genetic engineering results are predictable before and after the camp, but strongly agreed that they should be labeled. Overall, for the rest of our survey, the students remained neutral in response. This can be attributed to their new knowledge on biotechnology, and their lack of in depth research. Next year, we can aim to address some of these questions in the survey more directly to spur discussion between the students. </p> | ||
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+ | <p><b>Future Survey</b></p> | ||
+ | <p>As a pilot study, we were able to see how Pro GMO and Neutral GMO populations that are familiar with biotechnology would respond to our survey. Next, we will continue to test the survey on different populations: those uneducated about biotechnology, those against biotechnology or GMOs, ect. </p> | ||
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+ | <hr></hr> | ||
+ | Written by: Sierra Tackett | ||
+ | </br> | ||
+ | Sources reviewed in development of survey: <br /><div class="ref"> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Antoniou, Robinson, Fagan. GMO Myths and Truths (2012). Earth Open Source. http://www.earthopensource.org | ||
+ | <br/ > | ||
+ | Tegegne, Aziz, Bhavsar. Awareness of and Attitudes towards Biotechnology by Tennessee State University Students with Different Backgrounds and Majors (2013). Journal of Biotech Research 5, 16-23. <br /> | ||
+ | Onyango, Govindasamy, Hallman. U.S Public Awareness and Knowledge of and Interest in Biotechnology: A Principal Component Factor Analysis (2006), 37, 126-132. | ||
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+ | </div> | ||
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Latest revision as of 03:42, 18 October 2014