SGER: Public Information, Development Scenarios, and Public Deliberation in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Policy

公众参与技术政策决策是有争议的，在纳米科学和技术的情况下尤其如此。富有成效的公民参与可能会在纳米技术发展的技术规范的早期整合公众的关注，有助于减少争议、更容易被社会接受的技术部署和集成，但是由严谨的研究支持的参与方法直到最近才出现。如果我们要在NS&amp；T技术得到充分发展之前，就NS&amp；T问题进行理性的公开对话，我们需要尽快了解进行富有成效对话的最佳实践。NS&amp；T领域每天都在取得科学进步，产品已经投放市场。热衷者正在积极推广纳米增强人类生物学等方案，而反对者则假设最坏的情况。学习如何有效地纳入公众参与也很紧迫，因为NS&amp；T政策是国家层面的政策，具有潜在的巨大公共影响。虽然数百万公民无法同时进行推理，但建立知情、理性的共识需要共同推理。群体互动过程本质上是公民审议的核心。这些过程必须指向解决问题，而不仅仅是表达意见。这个SGER项目将建立在该研究小组以前和现在的NSF资助的基础上，增加新的知识，这将导致涉及纳米技术的参与实践的立即改进。拟议的研究将立即开始，建立两个试点“最佳实践”公民技术论坛，并纳入该小组过去研究的新研究成果。该项目将利用实验问题小组、一项全国调查和两个CTFs，利用实验问题小组（焦点小组的一种变体）和一项全国调查来发现公民对纳米技术的看法和内容知识；利用调查和对话数据，发现不同风险框架在不知情、适度知情和充分知情情况下的影响；了解公民对基本信息材料的反应，并设计这些材料以使知识最大化；回应未预料到的公民信息或焦点需求（即，可能鼓励最有成效的对话的特定问题），这可以为材料设计和纳米技术参与过程的实施提供信息，并避免增加公民两极分化；与两个具有代表性的公民团体一起制定和实施最佳实践纳米技术共识会议流程设计；并确定未来ctf所需的其他工艺设计更改。拟议的项目将产生关于公民对纳米技术的看法和政策偏好的第一个随机抽样全国调查，并测试一种进行国家规模的技术政策参与过程的创新方法。全国调查、实验问题小组和公民技术论坛将确保按性别、年龄、社会经济地位、种族群体和教育状况进行代表性参与。该项目将由研究生和本科生参与收集和分析数据，并编写简报材料。学生也可能被要求提供文献评论。

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.