Playing the percentages: UL team aim to find out how Irish assess and think about risk?

Does the idea of taking a risk make you panic, or does it make you flushed with excitement?

It is no accident that so many of our favourite myths and stories are about those who take a risk and what happens to them.

Icarus, in a rush of excitement over his new wings, risks flying higher and higher and plummets to his death.

Titans of commerce like Henry Ford and Steve Jobs took gambles with unlikely ideas and struck gold.

Millions follow sports teams as they straddle defence and attack to achieve victory.

In an attempt to gain a greater understanding of the different aspects of this complex subject a group of academics and scientists from the University of Limerick are encouraging members of the public to take part in a 10-minute survey to better understand how and why interpretations of risk can vary from person to person, even when people have the same information to hand.

The researchers from the University of Limerick - Prof Norma Bargary, Dr Fergal Quinn, Prof Ailish Hannigan and Eleanor Fallon - will use the information to examine how people conceptualise risk with the goal of adding to current knowledge on how to communicate risk and to inform the development of risk literacy.

The UL team is asking members of the public to take part in a very short survey (click  here to access), which will take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

Commenting on the project Prof Norma Bargary said the public's participation will help society understand how varying aspects of risk fit together.

"This wil help us understand how risk varies between people and how this is affected by the way in which the risk is communicated. We are really grateful to everyone and anyone who takes part in the survey and we hope that is fun to do!"

UL made it clear that researchers will not be collecting any identifying information such as names, emails or IP addresses and that the results of this survey will be used for research purposes only.

After the survey findings are analysed, UL will be sharing the findings and some of their implications with us. So watch this space!