Guest Post by Sally Healy, PhD Candidate, Griffith University
Exploring Consumer Concern for Animal Welfare
I have
always been very interested in people’s perceptions of eating meat; similarly,
people have often shown interest in my choice to abstain from eating animals. I
decided to further explore this topic through my PhD project, in which I am
using both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the factors that
influence consumers’ purchasing decisions when buying animal-based foods.
Recent
research has suggested there has been a surge in consumer concern for the
treatment of animals in the farming industry. Alongside this concern, there are
is an ongoing debate over what exactly influences this concern, and whether
concern itself can lead to a change in consumer behaviour. Knowledge of farming
practices and attitudes towards the treatment of animals are two factors that
are often discussed when trying to answer this question, which is why I have
designed a survey that addresses both of these issues.
The survey I have
developed seeks to investigate consumption patterns of animal-based foods –
namely eggs, pork, and chicken, and attempts to quantify participant knowledge
of farming systems in Australia. The survey also looks into attitudes towards
the treatment of animals, preferences for animal-based foods (including
labelling of welfare standards), and socio-demographics.
The
survey is available online and takes between 15 and 20 minutes to complete and
by participating you will be invited to enter the draw to win a $100 Coles Myer
Gift Voucher. The survey will remain active until the 31st of
August, 2012. For any further information on this survey or the project please
e-mail me at sally.healy@griffithuni.edu.au.
The
survey is available through the following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment