A Current Survey on student views on religion and sex could create a reaction against future surveys carried out by responsible bodies.

This is the opinion of a university staff member with experience of opinion surveys.

The survey is being circulated by Sociology I students as a research project.

Salient showed a copy of the survey questionnaire to the staff member after complaints had been received from students that the survey was unnecessarily offensive.

After reading the survey, he commented that objections to one survey tended to harm public confidence in all surveys.

He said that the survey was in general competently drafted.

However, he did not think it was desirable for a survey by Stage I students to cover such a sensitive area.

He agreed that a significant number of people would probably regard the survey as offensive.

The survey was mailed to slightly more than a hundred students in unsealed envelopes. An unsigned letter which accompanied it gave no clue to the identity of its originators.