A current popular theme in medicine concerns whether and how patients should be involved in treatment choice. Assuming patient involvement is desirable, how should one go about eliciting preferences? A variety of quantitative and qualitative methods exist that may be used for this purpose, one...

There is a growing call for greater public involvement in establishing science and technology policy, in line with democratic ideals. A variety of public participation procedures exist that aim to consult and involve the public, ranging from the public hearing to the consensus conference....

This article takes as its case study the "GM Nation?" public debate, a major participation process on the commercialization of agricultural biotechnology, which occurred in Britain during the summer of 2003. We investigate possible self-selection biases in over 36,000 open questionnaire...

When we rely on the judgment of experts to help produce our forecasts, the key issues are how to get the appropriate information from our consultants and how to get a forecast if we are using multiple experts. Gene Rowe describes the Delphi method, tells what it offers to the forecaster, and...

Following the BSE crisis, the importance of reassuring European consumers and involving them in debate about food safety management issues is generally recognised. Indeed, consulting stakeholders is one of the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) main duties, as stated in its founding...

There is currently a trend in democratic societies towards greater involvement of the public in the policy setting of official bodies. Numerous mechanisms have been developed to enable such involvement, ranging from traditional forms, such as the public meeting, to more novel forms, such as the...

The issue of how risk is 'perceived' is one of significant research interest and immense practical importance. In spite of this wide interest, however, it is probably fair to say that most emerging 'risk' crises -- whether related to natural or technological phenomena -- come as a surprise to...