Summer Research and Creativity Grants

By Georgina Anderson Agricultural Biotechnology In recent years, agricultural biotechnology has been viewed in a very negative light by the general public. A lack of education about important advances in this field is partially responsible for the public’s opinions. How easily are people reassured of the safety of agricultural biotechnology’s contribution to the nation’s food supply? This research project is trying to answer this question. By measuring volunteers’ attitudes toward agricultural biotechnology. The volunteers will have access to a series of readings about agricultural biotechnology in the nation’s food supply, and then the volunteers will take a second survey measuring their opinions of agricultural biotechnology after being educated in the basic ideas of agricultural biotechnology and how it relates to the nation’s food supply. Readers of the Advocate-Messenger newspaper in Danville, KY are being asked to take part in an internet survey about their opinions toward biotechnology. The survey utilizes Likert-like questions as well as open-ended qualitative questions to assess participants’ positive or negative opinions of biotechnology, their perceived current knowledge of biotechnology, as well as standard demographic questions such as age, education level and occupation. Volunteers are then being directed to a series of four articles that will be published in the newspaper. These articles focus on historical and recent advances in biotechnology, as well as some of the major debates about biotechnology. A post-test will be given. The post-test’s questions will be identical to those asked on the pre-test, with the addition of questions pertaining to how many of the published articles the volunteers read. The quantitative data collected will be analyzed using the SSPS Data Analysis Software. The qualitative data collected will be analyzed to determine the major themes and concerns of the participants relating to the study. A follow-up article will be published in the AdvocateMessenger Newspaper to inform volunteers and other newspaper readers of the results of the study. A scholarly paper based on this study will be submitted to the Anthropologists and Sociologists of KY 2003 Annual Meeting. The information gathered in this study could be used to create programs to educate the public so that people understand what biotechnology is really about and what major advances have been made in this field resulting in more and higher quality food being available to consumers world wide. Developmental Changes in Media Use in ADHD and Comparison Children Abstract By Rebecca Dayle AshbyBy Rebecca Dayle Ashby Psychology and Education