Surveys and focus groups are well known methods for ascertaining public perceptions and opinion. The general view is that such tools provide reasonably accurate reflections of public values, and that the norms employed by people to make decisions are fixed. But what about issues where the public needs to consider novel choices where no prior experience can be drawn on? Do their preferences and beliefs change when presented with new options and new information? Recent evidence suggests they do and this paper describes an alternative way of gathering data, which takes into account the dynamic nature of social norms in response to new technologies and their applications. It also discusses the problem with traditional methods of generating information about public opinion and offers a possible solution. Our interdisciplinary research team, NERD (Norms Evolving in Response to Dilemmas), has developed a web-based survey instrument that is designed to bridge the gap between perceived and actual public opinion, which traditional surveys and focus groups are unable to capture. This paper will present some of our preliminary findings from the results of our first survey on the topic of Human Health and Genomics. We have found that there are differences in the way respondents answer which has not yet been accounted for in other participatory processes. If new technologies demand new methods for creating policies, then it is imperative to find solutions that the older, more traditional methods currently face.
