FSD2485 Assessing Cumulative Chemical Risks and Uncertainties - International Expert Survey 2006

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Download the data

Study description in other languages

Related files

Study title

Assessing Cumulative Chemical Risks and Uncertainties - International Expert Survey 2006

Dataset ID Number

FSD2485

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2485

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

  • Assmuth, Timo (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))
  • Hildén, Mikael (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))
  • Lyytimäki, Jari (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))

Abstract

The survey is part of the EU-funded research project NoMiracle (Novel Methods for Risk Assessment of Cumulative Stressors in Europe) and it charted the views of experts and stakeholders on chemical-related risks, risk assessment, and risk management.

First, the respondents assessed the importance and role of different types of information in legally based, formal risk management and in public debate on risks. Next, they were presented with a set of attitudinal statements related to various factors influencing the assessment of risks, such as the significance of chemical risks for people and the environment, the role of experts, stakeholders and interest groups, and the importance of various research data. The respondents also assessed risk maps describing single and cumulative risks. Finally, they were presented with statements on the clarity, interestingness, and usefulness of the cumulative graph.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, education, and field of expertise.

Keywords

chemicals; estimation; information use; professional personnel; risk

Topic Classification

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

  • Finnish Environment Institute

Data Producers

  • European Union
  • Finnish Environment Institute

Time Period Covered

2006

Collection Dates

2006-11-21 – 2007-01-08

Nation

Finland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, United States, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland

Geographical Coverage

Finland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, United States, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Experts and stakeholders acquainted with chemical risks

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Purposive

The survey focused on experts and interest groups with a strong expertise on particularly chemical-related risks. The respondents were searched for in seven different groups (some of them may belong to more than one group). The groups were: 1) researchers (universities and state research institutes, and a few private research institutes), 2) national authorities and regulatory experts mainly in chemicals control, 3) EU-level authorities and regulatory experts in the European Commission, its agencies and expert bodies (incl. the Joint Research Center), 4) experts in other relevant international bodies (e.g. UN organisations), 5) industry experts and representatives (both researchers and managers), 6) experts in consulting firms, 7) experts and other representatives for non-governmental organisations (especially in consumer, environmental, and health matters), and 8) selected Members of European Parliament familiar with chemicals control.

The contact information for the respondents was collected from various sources including official lists of national contacts, participant lists of recent meetings, information on relevant EU projects, NoMiracle newsletter distribution, and other networks. In selecting the recipients, the following factors were considered as selection criteria: documented expertise and production of relevant scientific publications, official expert status, coverage of different stakeholder groups (chemical producers, non-governmental organisations, policy-makers in the European Parliament), active participation in relevant areas of risk communication, coverage of topic fields (broad knowledge of chemicals and chemical risks in relation to other concerns, familiarity with consumer protection and food safety), regional representation (the respondents were selected mainly from European countries and especially from the European Union, the respondents outside the EU were predominantly US researchers), and the coverage of relevant other EU R&D activities (the respondents were searched for among the projects under the EU 6th Framework Programme for research). The projects were obtained from the CORDIS database with the keyword "risk". About 15 of them with recent or ongoing activities in the relevant fields were selected among the total 150 projects and networks found. Furthermore, diverse experience from several types of organisations and different fields was used an additional selection criterion. The objective was to receive one reply from each organisation. However, many respondents were included from some organisations, such as the institutes with broad involvement in the NoMiracle project. In addition, representation of both female and male respondents was striven for. The questionnaire was sent only to the respondents with a personal e-mail address. All in all, the original set of respondents contained 1,020 personal e-mail addresses. After the removal of undeliverable e-mail addresses, the size of the final research population was 952 e-mail addresses. The questionnaire was sent to the respondents the first time in November 2006 and they were given a week's time to reply. A reminder was sent in December 2006 without a specified deadline for replying. All responses were gained through numbered links, and the total number of responses received was 247. One answer containing no data was removed, and thus the final number of responses was 246. The response rate was 26% (37% of those on the NoMiracle Newsletter mailing list responded).

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

26

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Number of Cases and Variables

111 variables and 246 cases.

Data Version

1.0

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Assmuth, Timo (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)) & Hildén, Mikael (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)) & Lyytimäki, Jari (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)): Assessing Cumulative Chemical Risks and Uncertainties - International Expert Survey 2006 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2010-03-11). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2485

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

Users of the data shall send the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) a copy of all publications based on or using the data. The copies shall be sent to the mail address: Suomen ympäristökeskus (SYKE) PL 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Assmuth, Timo & Lyytimäki, Jari & Hildén, Mikael & Lindholm, Matti & Münier, Bernd (2007): What do experts and stakeholders think about chemical risks and uncertainties? An Internet survey. Helsinki : Finnish Environment Institute. The Finnish Environment 22.

Related Publications Tooltip

Lyytimäki, Jari & Assmuth, Timo & Hildén, Mikael (2009). Communicating chemical risks for social learning: Findings from an expert opinion survey. Applied Environmental Education & Communication 8(3&4): 174-183. doi:10.1080/15330150903269308

Assmuth, Timo & Lyytimäki, Jari & Hildén, Mikael & Lindholm, Matti & Münier, Bernd (2007): What do experts and stakeholders think about chemical risks and uncertainties? An Internet survey. Helsinki: Finnish Environment Institute. The Finnish Environment 22. [verkkodokumentti] http://www.ymparisto.fi/default.asp?contentid=241573&lan=en [viitattu 24.3.2010].

Assmuth, Timo & Hildén, Mikael & Lyytimäki, Jari & Münier, Bernd (2010). Expert views of the comprehension and use of maps describing complex environmental risks from chemicals. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences. (forthcoming)

Assmuth, Timo & Hildén, Mikael & Lyytimäki, Jari & Benighaus, Christina & Renn, Ortwin (2009). Big pictures, close-ups, roadmaps and mind-maps: Perspectives on integrated treatment of multiple risks. International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 13(3/4): 294-312. DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2009.030701

Study description in machine readable DDI-C 2.5 format

Creative Commons License
Metadata record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.