Research Expectations

Today I am going to write about what I expect to find in my research regarding the history of stem cell research polling and public opinion. First, I don't really expect to find a long historical background seeing as though 2001 seems to be the first poll I have found. I do expect to find changes in question wording as new information became available to poll organizations regarding this issue. I also expect to see stability because when I did my first class presentation, I found that opinions from the polls remained stable between 2001 and 2009 give or take a few percentage points. Concerning frequency of polling this issue, I anticipate more polls beginning in 2001, the same year Bush banned funding and the polls began (as far as I know now) and in 2009 when Obama overturned the ban. It seems that these were the times the topic was salient because politics were deciding on policies regarding the research. While I know polls have been conducted at other times between 2001 and 2009, I expect to find that the frequency calmed down. Regarding media coverage, I anticipate it was most prominent during the same times and possibly when a possible breakthrough with the research came to light. However, since it doesn't seem that the media focused too much on the difference between embryonic and adult stem cell research, I expect to find most media information regarding embryonic stem cells. Since this topic is new within this decade, I do not anticipate too many changes in media reporting especially since poll results remained stable. Any trends and changes may be a byproduct of the changes in policies the presidents made and any new breakthroughs in the research. This is just information I expect to find, not necessarily information I have found.