The Touch Test: Attitudes Towards and Experiences of Touch, 2020

Bowling, Natalie and Vafeiadou, Aikaterini and Banissy, Michael (2023). The Touch Test: Attitudes Towards and Experiences of Touch, 2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-854471

Data description (abstract)

The Touch Test was commissioned by Wellcome Collection and BBC Radio 4 and research carried out by Goldsmiths, University of London. This survey investigated attitudes towards and experiences of touch - a relatively understudied domain compared with other sensory modalities. A large participant sample was recruited, comprising a broad demographic across age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, and employment status. Our key research questions addressed particular gaps in existing knowledge, and included 1) What are people's attitudes and experiences towards touch and how do they vary across different groups? 2) How does touch relate to health and wellbeing throughout adulthood? 3) What is the relationship between touch and the type, size, closeness, and frequency of contacts in a respondent’s social network? 4) What is the topography of social touch (where is it / is it not appropriate to touch someone) and how does this vary between demographic groups? 5) How does touch relate to sleep, and how might this relationship contribute to health and wellbeing? 6) How does touch contribute to medical experiences (e.g. willingness to have interactions with healthcare professionals; perceptions of outcomes of medical treatments)? 7) How open are we to using technology as a tool to provide or augment our tactile experiences (e.g. for medical treatments; for long-distance relationships)?

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