Respondents were asked to rate how much they trusted the following types of organisations:
Although the question was worded slightly differently in 1994 than in 2001 and 2004, it appears that levels of trust have increased for:
Levels of trust have not changed since 2001 for charities (54%) and internet retailers (9%).
Would you say these types of organisations are trustworthy or untrustworthy when it comes to the protection or use of your personal information?
Base - 2004 All Respondents n=1,507
A mean trustworthiness score was created, as shown in the table below.
| Response | Score |
|---|---|
| Highly Trustworthy | 5 |
| Somewhat Trustworthy | 4 |
| Neither Trustworthy nor Untrustworthy | 3 |
| Somewhat Untrustworthy | 2 |
| Highly Untrustworthy | 1 |
| Can't Say | Not Included |
A mean trustworthiness score captures both the proportion of respondents who find an institution trustworthy and the extent to which they find it trustworthy.
For example, although the proportion of respondents who trust internet sales companies has remained unchanged at 9% since 2001, the mean trustworthiness rating for these companies has dropped from 1.98 to 1.72, due to a larger proportion of the population rating them as highly untrustworthy.
In general, since the 2001 study, there has been little change in mean trustworthiness scores across most of these types of organisations.
Would you say these types of organisations are trustworthy or untrustworthy when it comes to the protection or use of your personal information?
Base - 2001 All Respondents n=1,524, 2004 All Respondents n=1,507
^top : Last Updated : 27 October 2004