Aconsideration of the literature reveals the existence of a variety of methods
and guidelines that might come under the public participation categorization,
ranging from those that elicit input in the form of opinions (e.g., public
opinion surveys and focus groups) to those that elicit judgments and decisions
from which actual policy might be derived (e.g., consensus conferences
and citizens’ juries). In the risk domain, it is apparent that most of these procedures
have been used for gaining public input with regard to more valueladen
and policy-oriented aspects of risk management, rather than for acquiring
public input regarding the more technical aspects of risk assessment per se
(e.g., Moffet 1996).