Under this project a national opinion survey will be performed to measure the attitudes of the U.S. adult public toward science and technology. Data will be collected by telephone in the spring of 1988 using a national multistage cluster sample of about 2000 respondents. Some questions will continue data series previously collected for the program, while others will update part of a major study conducted in 1957. Additional questions will assess the public's experience with computers and the use of information sources regarding public science and technology issues. Some questions will also be designed to correspond with those being used in national British and Japanese surveys that will be performed at about the same time. An integrated data set will be developed that will contain the whole data series, along with a code book, so that researchers in public attitudes can make use of this important resource. The Science Indicators program has been collecting data in this area since 1972. They have been used mainly in the biennial series of Science and Engineering Indicators reports, though important research papers have also appeared. These materials have provided valuable insights into public thinking about science and technology issues, and thereby have helped inform discussions of such issues.
