Imagine two questions:
- On a scale of 1–5, rank how willing you would be to buy eggs from chickens fed with GMO corn.
- On a scale of 1–5, rank how unwilling you would be to buy eggs from chickens fed with GMO corn.
The difference is subtle, a simple changing of the word “willing” to “unwilling.” Despite the fact that these two questions are attempting to elicit the same information—a consumer’s view toward genetically modified foods—the different connotations of the questions may result in quite different research inferences.
Recently published research in the European Review of Agricultural Economics intended to investigate whether the connotation of questions in GMO food perception surveys may have led to European consumers’ overly critical inferences about GMO foods. The study examined 1,713 different questions asked across 214 different surveys and found that, indeed, when questions had more negative connotations toward biotechnology, respondents tended to view GMO foods less favorably. Conversely, questions that had a more positive connotation toward biotechnology led to more favorable views toward GMO foods. Moreover, these results were unaffected across food products.
Interestingly, the research also found that when questions mentioned potential price discounts or increases in food supply resulting from the use of biotechnology, respondents tended to more negatively view GMO foods. This might seem counterintuitive to agricultural producers because, often, production of genetically modified commodities does lower production costs (thus, likely retail prices as well) and increases overall supply. So, what might be advantageous to producers and processors may not necessarily be appreciated in the same manner by consumers.
Perhaps the most interesting result of the research was this:
Past findings that European consumers perceive GMO foods more negatively than people in other countries may have been primarily due to the fact that those studies asked survey questions with more negative connotations toward biotechnology.
After accounting for these “negative connotation effects,” the researchers were no longer able to find that European consumers perceived GMO foods differently from consumers in other countries.
One implication of this result is the potential for continued growth for US agricultural products. As more accurate assessments of European consumers’ food preferences become available, US food marketers may be more able to take advantage of opportunities that may have seemed previously non-existent .
