Why Do We Need to Know What the Public Thinks about Nanotechnology?

The article discusses the importance of studies that have been done to look at public attitudes of nanotechnology, but the author argues that these studies must go beyond simple polling, and also look at factors of how public attitudes change over time, what drives these changes, and how public attitudes are to different applications of nanotechnology, and should be supported by qualitative data. The author summarizes the results of a three year study on public attitudes towards nanotechnology, and discusses the impact of the data on public engagement programs.