1,725,199 research outputs found
Oral history interview with J. C. Hallman
No full textJ. C. Hallman discusses growing up in a planned community in southern California and his decision to become a writer at a young age. He outlines his writing career from attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop to publishing his fiction and nonfiction work. Hallman shares what he sees as a writer's purpose, details how his books develop from personal experiences, and reflects on what he has learned about himself as a writer over the years.The Deep Roots: Oklahoma Authors Collection is a series of interviews with authors who discuss their lives, work, and creative processes
Public Perceptions of Genetically Modified Foods: A National Study of American Knowledge and Opinion
No full textThis report presents the results from the second phase of a longitudinal study of Americans’ knowledge and feelings about agricultural biotechnology and how those perceptions and attitudes have changed over time. Two independent national probability samples of 1,200 adults were interviewed by phone in the spring of 2001 and 2003. While this report focuses on the findings from 2003, longitudinal comparisons are presented where appropriate. The report begins with an investigation of Americans’ awareness of the presence of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in the foods they encounter everyday. Next, the report describes Americans’ actual and perceived knowledge of science, biotechnology and food production. It then examines American opinions about GM foods in general, along with their opinions on a variety of existing and potential GM food products with direct or indirect consumer benefits. The report discusses the relationship between opinions of GM food and a variety of factors, including demographics, knowledge of biotechnology, purchasing behaviors and styles of food selection. Finally, it describes Americans’ thoughts on GM food labeling.Suggested Citation:
Hallman, W. K., Hebden, W. C., Aquino, H.L., Cuite, C.L. and Lang, J.T. 2003. Public Perceptions of Genetically Modified Foods: A National Study of American Knowledge and Opinion. (Publication number RR-1003-004). New Brunswick, New Jersey; Food Policy Institute, Cook College, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey
Americans’ perceptions of and likely responses to the threat of avian influenza in the U.S. food supply
No full textHighly pathogenic avian influenza has affected poultry consumption in all affected countries as well as some countries that have not been affected. If, as some predict, there is an outbreak of avian influenza in poultry in the U.S., there will likely be serious repercussions on the entire food system.To predict what might happen if avian influenza emerged in poultry or wild birds in the U.S. researchers at the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, conducted a national survey of public knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors related to the threat of avian influenza in the food supply.MethodologyA total of 1200 telephone interviews, lasting an average of 22 minutes, were completed between May 3, and June 5, 2006.2 The survey sample was selected through a random digit dial list. The sample selection procedures ensure that every household within the United States has an equal chance to be included in the survey. Each selected number was called a maximum of 15 times with calls distributed across days and times to try to reach a member of the household. The data was weighted using appropriate U.S. census weights for gender, age, race, ethnicity, and education. The cooperation rate was 60%. This paper summarizes the findings of the survey.Rutgers Food Policy Institute (FPI) Research Report RR-1106-01
Consumer Concerns About Biotechnology: International Perspectives
No full textFood Policy Institute Publication No. RR-0602-003
Public Perceptions of Agri-Biotechnology
No full textPermission to post the facsimile article granted by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com/)
[Letter from Dorothy Hallman to Members of the Legislature Discussing Senate Bill 1, 1961]
No full textLetter from Dorothy Hallman to Members of the Legislature discussing the 57th Legislature's General Appropriation Bill, Senate Bill 1. She encloses [not included here] a copy of Opinion WW-1046 and a form for them to sign and return
Responsibility, recalls, and reputations of organizations: theory-based experimental studies to improve food safety crisis communication
No full textThis study tests the applicability of Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) to the unique circumstances posed by food safety crises. The study uses a factorial experimental design with a representative sample of 1510 online participants. The study investigates the effects of different types of food safety crises, initial crisis communication strategies, and followup communication strategies on public responses as the crisis unfolds. The types of food safety crises include: accidental and omission preventable. The initial crisis communication strategies include: deny responsibility with a recall of the affected food and accept responsibility with recall. The followup strategies include: deny responsibility with scapegoating, diminish, rebuild with responsibility and apology, and rebuild without responsibility or apology. The unfolding of the crisis was designed to reflect: T1 breakout of crisis, T2 confirmation of the company’s involvement, T3 identification of crisis cause, and T4 followup communication. The results confirm that the public makes a distinction between accidental and preventable crises, with an omission preventable crisis generating more negative public responses (e.g. less favorable attitudes and behavioral intentions). While our previous research showed the importance of having a recall at the early stage of a crisis, the results of this study show that “accept responsibility with recall” initial strategy generates better public responses than “deny responsibility with recall”. Furthermore, the results indicate that “rebuild with responsibility and apology” followup strategy generates the most favorable public responses. This study extends the SCCT and highlights a crisis as an ongoing process and that companies should issue communications appropriate to each stage. This study also underlines the advantage of taking responsibility and offering an apology in restoring organizational reputation and consumers’ behavioral intentions.Poster Platform presentation December 11, 2017 at the 36th annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis, Arlington, VA.Peer reviewe
Avian Influenza in Poultry: American Knowledge, Perceptions, and Responses
No full textComputer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) were conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,200 non-institutionalized American adults (aged 18 and over) between May 3, 2006 and June 5, 2006. The results indicated:
• Avian influenza is on the national agenda
- Most Americans (93%) indicate they have heard of avian influenza.
- Nearly three-quarters of Americans say they have discussed avian influenza with someone else.
• Still, most Americans don’t know much about avian influenza
- More than half of Americans say they know ‘little’ or ‘nothing’ about avian influenza.
- On average, Americans correctly answer fewer than 60% of a series of 22 objective knowledge
questions.
• Uncertainty regarding food-related transmission
- The majority of Americans are aware that animal to human transmission of the avian influenza virus
can occur from contact with live infected birds or feces from infected birds.
- About one-third are unsure if transmission is possible from eating infected meat or eggs.
• Conflicting beliefs about preventing infection
- More than two-thirds of Americans believe the virus is present in uncooked meat of infected
chickens.
- Yet, less than half believe that proper cooking chicken kills the avian influenza virus.
- Few Americans believe infected live birds are easily recognizable; yet, many believe infected raw
meat is readily identifiable.
• Americans perceive the general risks posed by avian influenza to be low
- Americans aren’t very worried about illness with avian influenza.
- Americans report their risk of infection with avian influenza in the next year to be relatively low and
other Americans’ risk of infection to be higher, but still moderate.
• Yet, Americans see avian influenza in chicken as more risky
- The majority of Americans report greater perceived risk specifically associated with the consequences of eating chicken infected with avian influenza.
• Most Americans currently view chicken as safe and continue to eat it
- More than nine-in-ten Americans say they currently eat chicken.
- Americans report that chicken products in the U.S. are currently safe to eat.
• The proximity of avian influenza cases affects Americans likelihood of eating chicken
- The nearer avian influenza comes to the U.S., the less likely Americans are to eat chicken.
- Avian influenza does not necessarily have to emerge in the U.S. to affect poultry consumption.
• Many Americans are unlikely to eat chicken if the avian influenza virus is found inside the
U.S.
- Americans say they are relatively unlikely to eat chicken in the U.S. if avian influenza is found in wild
birds in the U.S. or if someone became sick with avian influenza from eating chicken in the U.S.
- Americans report being least likely to eat chicken in the U.S. if avian influenza was found in chickens
on farms in the U.S. and 39% report that they would definitely not eat chicken.
- Americans report reluctance to eat any chicken products if U.S. chickens are infected.
• Even with a strong, specific assurance of safety, many Americans report that they would be
unlikely to eat chicken again if the avian influenza virus is found inside the U.S.
- One-fifth (20%) say they would never eat chicken again.
- Those participants who said they would eat chicken again, report that it would take an average of 144 days for them to start eating it again (SD=337.67; Mdn=42).Suggested Citation:
Condry, S. C., Hallman, W. K., Vata, M., & Cuite, C. L. (2007). Avian influenza in poultry: Americans’
knowledge, perceptions, and responses. (Publication number RR-0507-014). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Food Policy Institute
Social media and food crisis communication
No full textThis study explores how to use social media to effectively communicate with the public about food risks. Using an Internet-based survey with a national sample of 1904 adults, we tested how the format of a URL affects how people respond to a message and the effectiveness of different sources of a social media message. We randomly assigned participants to see one of four “tiny” URLs at the end of a social-media style message (in which no source was identified) concerning a food contamination event. The URLs are from actual government tweets, two with usa.gov (go.usa.gov/YXNC and 1.usa.gov/RvvLKI) and two with random text (is.gd/FfQIDl and ow.ly/emXG7). The two URLS with “usa.gov” were significantly more likely to be perceived as being from the government (F (3, 1167) 20.78, p <.000) and less likely to be seen as a hoax (F (3, 1175) 11.32, p <.000), and respondents were more likely to say that they would click on the link to seek more information (F (3, 1182) 13.65, p <.000). To test source effects, we randomly assigned participants to see a second social media message that was identified as coming from either the company involved in a foodborne illness outbreak, MSNBC, Fox News, the state police, US DHS, or US FDA. There was a significant effect of source on all related dependent variables (understanding: F (6, 1125) =3.94, p<.001; perceived accuracy: F (6, 1125) =6.17, p<.000; likely to avoid: F (6, 1125) =3.42, p<.002; authenticity: F (6, 1125) =6.75, p<.000). Identifying the company involved in the outbreak and not identifying the source of the message was least effective in terms of perceived accuracy, understanding, and plans to avoid the contaminated food. These increased with attribution to media sources, and increased even more for government sources. These findings are important and actionable because they clearly suggest that social media messages are most likely to be useful when clearly identified as coming from the government.Peer reviewe
Public Opinion and Media Coverage of Animal Cloning and the Food Supply: Executive Summary
No full textAs part of its research program examining public knowledge, attitudes and opinions about food biotechnology, the Food Policy Institute recently completed a project examining public opinions about animal cloning and the products of animal cloning in the food supply. The project consisted of three components: 1) a review of the publicly available surveys of public opinion related to the issue; 2) a set of interviews with a group of opinion leaders looking at their mental models of animal cloning and the food supply; and, 3) an examination of media coverage of cloning and animals on websites, in news stories on the Internet, and in American print news stories published in 2005. The purpose of the study was to examine the intersection of rhetoric and opinion regarding the controversial issues related to animals, cloning, and the food supply.Rutgers Food Policy Institute Research Report: RR-1106-011
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