Public participation in technology policy decision-making is controversial, and that is especially true in the case of nanoscience and technology (NS&T). Productive citizen participation may integrate public concerns early in the technical specifications of nanotechnology development, contributing to a less contentious, more socially acceptable deployment and integration of the technology, but participation methods supported by rigorous research have only recently emerged. If we are to achieve a reasoned public dialogue on NS&T before the technologies are well developed, we need to know soon the best practices for a productive dialogue. Scientific advances in NS&T are made every day and products are already on the market. Enthusiasts are actively promoting scenarios such as nano-enhanced human biology while opponents hypothesize the worst-case scenarios. Learning how to effectively incorporate public participation is also urgent because NS&T policy is national-level policy with potentially enormous public impacts. While millions of citizens cannot reason together simultaneously, informed, reasoned consensus building requires reasoning together. Group interaction processes are inherently at the center of citizen deliberation. These processes must point toward problem solving rather than only expressing opinion. This SGER project would build on the research team's former and current NSF funding, adding new knowledge that would lead to immediate improvements in participation practices involving nanotechnology.
The proposed research will begin immediately, building towards two pilot "best practices" Citizens Technology Forums, and incorporating new research outcomes of the team's past research. The project will use experimental issue groups, a national survey, and two CTFs to discover citizen perceptions of and content knowledge of nanotechnology using experimental issue groups (a focus group variant) and a national survey; discover effects of different risk frames in uninformed, moderately informed, and fully informed conditions, using both survey and dialogue data; learn citizen reactions to basic informational materials, and design those to maximize knowledge; respond to unanticipated citizen informational or focus needs (i.e., particular questions that might encourage the most productive dialogue) that can inform material design and conduct of participation processes on nanotechnology and avoid increasing citizen polarization; develop and carry out a best-practices nanotechnology consensus conference process design, with two representative groups of citizens; and identify additional process design changes needed in the future CTFs.
The proposed project will produce the first random sample national survey of citizen perceptions and policy preferences on nanotechnology, and test an innovative means to conduct national-scale technology policy participation processes. The national survey, Experimental Issue Groups, and Citizens' Technology Forums will ensure representative participation by gender, age, SES, racial group, and educational status. The project will involve graduate and undergraduate students in collecting and analyzing data and in developing the briefing materials. The students may also be asked to contribute literature reviews.
