Gender
Difference in Attitudes Toward the
Use of Animals in Research
Research conducted by: Nicole
Hilliard, Faculty Advisor: Heidi Ziemer
Case study prepared by: Emily
Zitek Overview
The use of animals in research is a controversial and emotionally
charged issue. Personal feelings regarding the use of animals
in research vary widely. While many believe that the use of animals
in research has been and continues to be essential, others want
the practice stopped by cutting off funding or the passing of
legislative restrictions. Research on human attitudes toward the
use of animals in research has consistently shown systematic differences
of opinion with gender differences among the largerst.
In this study, a convience sample of 34 University of Houston
- Downtown students completed a simple survey that asked their
gender and how much they agreed with the following two statements:
"The use of animals in research is wrong," and "The
use of animals in research is necessary". They rated their
agreement with each of these statements on a 7-point scale from
strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7).
Questions to Answer Is there
a gender difference with respect to the belief that animal research
is wrong? Is there a gender difference with respect to the belief
that animal research is necessary?
Design Issues This is self-report
data. It is possible that the willingness to admit to thinking animal
research is wrong or necessary is what differs by gender, not how
the participants actually feel.
Descriptions of Variables
Variable |
Description |
Gender |
1 = female, 2 = male |
Wrong |
high scores indicate that the participant believes that animal
research is wrong |
Necessary |
high scores indicate that the participant believes that animal
research is necessary |
References |
Eldridge, J.J. & Gluck, J.P. (1996)
Gender differences in attitudes toward animal research. Ethics
& Behavior, 6(3), 239-256.
Nickell, D & Herzog, H.A. (1996). Ethical
ideology and moral persuasion: Personal moral philosophy,
gender, and judgements of pro- and anti-animal research propaganda.
Society & Animals, 4(1), 53-64.
Pifer, L. K. (1996). Exploring the gender
gap in young adults’ attitudes about animal research.
Society & Animals, 4(1), 37-52.
Wuensch, K. L. & Poteat, G.M. (1998).
Evaluating the morality of animal research: Effects of ethical
ideology, gender, and purpose. Journal of Social Behavior
& Personality, 13(1), 139-151.
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Links
American
Association for the Advancement of Science
Exercises |
- Create side-by-side box plots for belief that animal research
is wrong by gender. Which gender looks like it is more likely
to believe that animal research is wrong?
- Using the box plot computed in question 1, determine which
gender has an outlier.
- What percentage of the women studied in this sample stongly
agreed (gave a rating of 7) that using animals for research
is wrong?
- What is the mean difference in the ratings for the two
genders in how much they think that animal research is wrong?
- Conduct an independent samples t-test comparing males
to females on belief that animal research is wrong.
- Create side-by-side box plots for belief that animal research
is necessary by gender. Which gender looks like it is more
likely to believe that animal research is necessary?
- What percentage of men disagreed on some level (gave
ratings of 1, 2, or 3) that animal research was necessary?
- Conduct an independent samples t-test comparing males
to females on belief that animal research is necessary.
- Based on the t-test you conducted for #8, are you able
to reject the null hypothesis if alpha = 0.05? What about
if alpha = 0.1?
- Is there any evidence that the t-test assumption of homogeneity
of variance is violated for either of the two t-tests conducted
in these exercises?
- What is the overall correlation between the belief that
animal research is wrong and belief that animal research
is necessary?
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