Race and Public Communication about Human Variation

该项目探讨了制作关于人类基因变异的信息的可行性，这些信息对公众态度的影响是非歧视性的。为此，它追求三个研究目标。首先，该项目将使用焦点小组来描述现有的对遗传、种族和人类特征(包括疾病)之间关系的普通理解。其次，在焦点小组结果的基础上，它将使用具有代表性的人口调查和信息影响研究来确定词汇表，并生成样本信息，以便以非歧视的方式交流人类变异。第三，它将制定一个可靠和适当的衡量标准，以评估有关人类基因变异的信息的歧视性影响。该项目将重点关注非裔美国人对歧视和遗传学的关切，以及欧洲裔美国人和普通民众对非裔美国人和遗传学的态度。

This project explores the feasibility of producing messages about human genetic variation that are non-discriminatory in their impact on public attitudes. Toward this end it pursues three research objectives. First, the project will employ focus groups to describe existing lay understandings of the relationships among genetics, race, and human characteristics (including disease). Second, building on the results of the focus groups, it will use a representative population survey and a message impact study to identify vocabularies and to generate sample messages for communicating about human variation in nondiscriminatory ways. Third, it will develop a reliable and appropriate measurement scale for assessing the discriminatory impact of messages about human genetic variation. The project will focus on the concerns of African Americans about discrimination and genetics and on attitudes about African Americans and genetics held by European Americans and the general population.