Example environment dissertation topic 4:

GM crops: Public perceptions of their desirability amongst residents of Yorkshire.

As the largest county in England, Yorkshire is home to a diverse mix of socio-economic groups as well as industrial and agricultural concerns. Using SPSS analysis, this dissertation questions 400 respondents (100 in each of the four cities of Sheffield, York, Leeds, and Bradford) to ascertain the view of Yorkshiremen (and women) as to the desirability of GM crops. Using a two-tiered questionnaire (in which respondents are initially interviewed before being re-interviewed two weeks later – during which time they are supplied with an array of printed material outlining the benefits of GM crops) this is a dissertation that would be particularly suited to postgraduate level investigation or the ambitious undergraduate.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Gaskell, G., Allum, N., Bauer, M.W., Jackson, J., Howard, S. and Lindsey, N. (2003). ‘Ambivalent GM nation? Public attitudes to biotechnology in the UK 1991-2002’, Life Sciences in European Society Report: London School of Economics and Political Science.
• Legge Jr., J. S. and Durant, R. F. (2010). ‘Public opinion, risk assessment, and biotechnology: Lessons from attitudes toward genetically modified foods in the European Union’, Review of Policy Research, Vol. 27(1), pp. 59-76.
• Poortinga, W. and Pidgeon, N.F. (2003). Public perceptions of genetically modified food and crops, and the GM nation? Public debate on the commercialisation of agricultural biotechnology in the UK: Main findings of a British survey. Norwich: Centre for Environmental Risk.