During National Science Week, from 13 to 21 August 2011, the ABC Science
Online hosted a citizen science project that provided an opportunity for
citizens to participate in research being undertaken by Australian
researchers.
In 2011, the science research topic was multi-tasking and the Victorian
Government Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI)
was offered the opportunity to frame a series of questions around Australians’
interest and engagement with science to add to the ABC survey.
The number of survey questions included by DSDBI formed a small part of the
ABC citizen science survey. The questions included by DSDBI looked at interest
and engagement with science, behaviour around searching for and seeking
scientific information and how science information is used.
Data collected for one of DSDBI's questions was not accessible due to a
technical error. The question for which data was inaccessible and the
associated lost data entries have been removed from the questionnaire and data
set published.
The data is accessible to analyse in an xls format, available for download at
the right hand box, and the survey questionnaire is available for reference in
Word document format. The data was collected from a total of 3074 participants
in the ABC science survey project.
The survey tool and survey analysis were undertaken by Sweeney Research. The
Department also acknowledges the ABC Science Unit for their assistance in
collecting this data.
DSDBI has also commissioned studies tracking Victorians' attitues and
engagement with science and technology - the 2007 Community Interest and
Engagement with Science and Technology in Victoria Research
Report (prepared by
Quantum Market Research) and the 2011 Community Interest and Engagement with
Science and Technology in Victoria report (prepared by Sweeney Research). Raw SPSS
datasets for both studies and
an interactive data tool allowing
comparisons of datasets and filtering by dempgraphic characteristics are also
available.