This is what it's all about.
The relationship between humans and animals is complex and one of the most important social issues of our time. Our team at the University of Zurich, led by Prof. Hopwood (see link below), is researching how people think and feel about animals. We are also experts in how to measure such attitudes.
As part of Sandro Jenni’s dissertation (photo below), we are developing a new questionnaire that meets the highest quality standards in our field. There is an urgent need for such a questionnaire. Researchers and NGOs currently have to work with either no data or poor-quality data. We have the necessary skills and experience to close this gap. You can help us by supporting our first testing of the questionnaire.
We urgently need better data; only then can we better understand the relationship between humans and animals. Our project aims to enable us to better promote the interests of animals in the future.
My project is special because ...
High-quality data is the foundation of good research. We aim to develop a questionnaire that meets the highest standards. Existing methods for measuring attitudes toward animals have significant shortcomings. For example, they do not differentiate between different animal species, capture only a small portion of relevant attitudes toward animals, or use imprecise questions (making it unclear which psychological aspects are intended to be measured). Even if it may not always seem so from the outside: designing a good questionnaire is not easy. We are aware of these challenges and are currently developing a questionnaire designed to avoid these shortcomings.
In the future, this questionnaire should make it possible to investigate, for example, whether attitudes toward animals differ over time or across countries. Furthermore, such a tool is needed to evaluate whether interventions (such as awareness campaigns) have an effect on people’s attitudes.
This is what I need backing for.
We need your support to make our project a reality! Our questionnaire still needs to be tested on a sample that is as diverse and representative as possible to ensure the highest quality of data. Such surveys involve costs. To keep costs low—and because it is often most useful to develop a questionnaire in English first—we will recruit our sample through the platform «Prolific» (link below). This means that the platform uses the funds to compensate study participants.
To finance this, we need external financial support. Your support helps us make an important contribution to research and animal welfare.
