Case Study: Public Attitudes Towards Funding for Research Into Diet and Health

Hardly a magazine or newspaper nowadays is complete without an article about diet and health; from the latest celebrity diet craze to stories about the benefits — or lack thereof — of almost every type of food going. To complicate matters, much of this content is contradictory and can be a minefield to negotiate. In the midst of this information barrage, how can a scientific funding body elucidate what public attitudes towards research into diet and health are and which areas they feel should be prioritised for future funding?

Background

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is one of the UK's major sources of funding for academic research and training in the non-clinical life sciences. One area of research that falls within their remit is diet and health.

BBSRC, in collaboration with the Institute of Food Research (IFRC), were keen to ensure that the funding decisions they make in this area are in line with public priorities and therefore they commissioned this deliberative research in order to:

• Understand public concerns about, and priorities for, research into diet and health which fall within the BBSRC remit;
• Gain public input into strategic decision making about the direction and conduct of diet and health research;
• Be publicly accountable for the direction of research into diet and health;
• Demonstrate transparency in strategy development.

Our Approach

This project involved a variety of different research techniques over three stages of research:

• Desk research, describing the deliberative qualitative research methods that can be used for assessing public priorities for research into diet and health, and recommendations for developing Ipsos MORI's research for BBSRC;
• Deliberative research, involving two general public workshops held in Sutton on 4 June 2005 and Stafford on 25 June 2005. At these workshops, expert witnesses from the BBSRC briefed participants on the role, remit and responsibility of the BBSRC and participants evaluated 6 potential projects against funding criteria they had developed earlier in the day. This enabled us to understand how trade-offs were made and which were the crucial criteria for the participants.
• A large-scale quantitative survey of behaviour, attitudes and opinions among the general public in the UK.

Outcomes

A combination of qualitative and quantitative work meant that a quantifiable record of the public's spontaneous opinions on research into diet and health was available alongside a deeper understanding of the public's priorities for diet and health, and of the thought processes that influence their opinions. The deliberative nature of the workshops ensured participants could make informed contributions to the debate.

Understanding of the relationship between diet and health in the context of both public health and consumer interests. This covers fundamental mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, tissue and whole body levels through the application of nutritional, physiological, genetic, biochemical, behavioural, psychological or other approaches where appropriate. The scope includes the whole life span including growth, development and ageing.

Comments

Both the professionals and young people felt it had been a valuable exercise, both in terms of the research process and structure of the event. Comments included:

"Public opinion should be taken into account when making funding decisions. Focus groups and research groups like today are a good way of doing this."

"I would now view research on these subjects as being more important than I previously thought."

"These issues I have never given much thought to. Therefore an opportunity to think about health issues that affect us has been interesting."

For more information about medicine and science research please contact Michele Corrado, or Andrew Norton, on 020-7347 3000