Introductory Workshop Discussion Forum

Six Americas Resource: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/about/projects/global-warmings-six-americas/ 

Book on Social Diffusion/ Social Media: https://jonahberger.com/books/contagious/ 

Q - How do we locate the reliable data that supports sector identification? 

A - A good place to start would be with government data.  For example the Energy Information Administration (https://www.eia.gov/) is great for energy data.  Beyond that, take a look for academic research that may cite data that has been aggregated.  Sometimes if you can work with local utilities they can provide high level data as well (e.g. ratio of indoor vs outdoor water use).  Census data is also a great place to start. GIS mapping is also useful for some topic areas (e.g., concentration single-family homes near impaired water bodies). 

Q - would you ever rank them individually instead of adding the weighing.  Then decide which category you want to use for decision making. 

A1 - If limited research funds are available, sometimes we'll to a first culling of behaviors based on impact.  if there are some super low impact ones on the list that wouldn't have much of an effect even if everyone did them, we'd remove those before researching the other categories on the table. 

A2 - All four categories (Impact, penetration, probability, and applicability) should be considered in selecting behaviors.  You may wish to prioritize certain impact should always be taken into consideration along with the other factors. We do often eliminate very low impact behaviors or other behaviors that we know won't make the final cut (e.g., known very low probability). Often, we will wind up with a handful of behaviors that rise to the top. We then may choose to use other factors in our decision making such as visibility, likely for habit formation, etc. 

Q - How would the cost to taking that action be evaluated/added to weight? Cost is that the person taking the action needs to incur  

A - With regard to probability, cost is often embedded in the behavior (e.g., purchase an electric car).  If you suspect cost is going to be a barrier, when asking about probability, you sometimes may need to provide some context (e.g., purchase an electric car with a XX rebate). 

Q - what about chat based phones surveys? For awhile they had higher participation rates - are those dropping as well? 

A - the challenge with any phone-based survey is sampling.  Say for example that you want to survey residents in your state.  With cell phones, it is difficult, if not impossible to know if a phone number is tied to a specific geographic area.  For example, you may have a California area code, but live in Washington sate. Getting a good cell-based sample is very expensive.  I'm not sure what the participation rate on chat-based surveys are currently. We typically updated information on sampling and response rate issues from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR).  This is a premier professional organization that provides guidance and standards around public opinion research.  https://www.aapor.org/ 

Link to the Farmer study - https://cbsm.com/cases/22696-restoring-the-redwood-river  

Link to Ben Tyson's professional page - https://www2.ccsu.edu/faculty/TysonC 

Link to Contagious book about social diffusion - https://jonahberger.com/books/contagious/ 

Link to a blog post about the fishing line program.  The end of the article includes contact information for finding out more about the program: https://texanbynature.org/2020/04/recycling-fishing-line-to-protect-wildlife/ 

Link to balloon researcher - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pTpED1YAAAAJ&hl=en  

Meta analysis - 

Lokhorst AM, Werner C, Staats H, van Dijk E, Gale JL. Commitment and Behavior Change: A Meta-Analysis and Critical Review of Commitment-Making Strategies in Environmental Research. Environment and Behavior. 2013;45(1):3-34. doi:10.1177/0013916511411477  Full text available on Google Scholar and Research Gate 

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Henk-Staats/publication/38134180_A_Review_Of_Commitment_Making_Strategies_In_Environmental_Studies/links/58b92506aca27261e51cebc4/A-Review-Of-Commitment-Making-Strategies-In-Environmental-Studies.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dEmzYsLFI-CO6rQP5oGtqAc&scisig=AAGBfm3vIEIKZ-v1OGIo2LkgIAW5gC5BlA&oi=scholarr 

Staats H, Harland P, Wilke HAM. Effecting Durable Change: A Team Approach to Improve Environmental Behavior in the Household. Environment and Behavior. 2004;36(3):341-367. doi:10.1177/0013916503260163 

Information on competitions - competitions appear to be effective at changing behavior (at least in the energy domain), but the persistence (how long the change lasts) of this behavior change beyond the competition is unknown.  You can find the report here: "A Review of Energy Reduction Competitions. What Have We Learned?" 2015. Vine, E & Jones, C. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30x859hv 

Link to UK Green Deal - https://www.gov.uk/green-deal-energy-saving-measures 

Links related to waste:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237718144_It_Matters_a_Hole_LotPerceptual_Affordances_of_Waste_Containers_Influence_Recycling_Compliance 

https://ccc.govt.nz/services/rubbish-and-recycling/yellowbin/bin-checking 

https://www.halifax.ca/home-property/garbage-recycling-green-cart 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/126222640/lazy-recyclers-targeted-as-1300-christchurch-properties-lose-the-right-to-kerbside-collections 

Blood pressure studies:

Santschi V, Chiolero A, Colosimo AL, Platt RW, Taffé P, Burnier M, Burnand B, Paradis G. Improving blood pressure control through pharmacist interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Am Heart Assoc. 2014 Apr 10;3(2):e000718. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.113.000718. PMID: 24721801; PMCID: PMC4187511 

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1717250 

Quasi Experimental Design book:

https://www.amazon.com/Experimental-Quasi-Experimental-Designs-Research-Campbell/dp/0395307872 

full text here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi12ozX7MH4AhUtK0QIHWixAyYQFnoECAQQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfu.ca%2F~palys%2FCampbell%26Stanley-1959-Exptl%26QuasiExptlDesignsForResearch.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2RJOcTE8aelYSyhcxzcm3j