Sustainability Polls and End of the Semester Iterations
It's the end of the semester and my dutiful students are crafting their final research papers analyzing behavior and environment. Supposedly all eyes are trained on how students' chosen environments might be made better, maybe even "sustainable" (for whatever that word means now and in the future). To that end I came across this article in the Oregonian and am wondering what thoughts may be.
I like it because of the slouching toward social science inquiry (our final course unit). There's a poll to assess the effectiveness of the Rose City's sustainability efforts...some of my students have used similar survey methodologies themselves and I'm interested in their comments.
I like it because of the slouching toward social science inquiry (our final course unit). There's a poll to assess the effectiveness of the Rose City's sustainability efforts...some of my students have used similar survey methodologies themselves and I'm interested in their comments.
Comments
Kaitlyn Mawhinney
Savannah Morgan
Walker
-Suath Penagos
The survey from the article actually had a few similarities to mine in that it's asking people to identify that certain things they do in society can affect the environment. Overall the answers I've received have been interesting, somewhat predictable, but interesting none the less. One method that I employed was simply asking the same general question, but wording it differently to see if that affected responses. I also used facts before a question to see how that manipulated the answers. How people have responded has by far been the most interesting part.
I thought the article was interesting and I liked the survey, it opened up a few ideas I have not really thought of. I think the four key audiences are spot on and I can think of quite a few in my hometown that need an intervention.
I would be interested to learn what other questions, if any, were asked in the Portland survey. Also, I liked that the campaign aims to inspire both individuals and businesses to participate in green activities. The business plan seems especially helpful to me, because it not only provides a list of sustainable actions, but tells why these actions are important to take.
For my paper I have finished the place, issue and the interview. The interview with a past resident of the Northside neighborhood was pretty predictable, but a couple responses were unexpected as that did not follow the flowing pattern of the interview. I am going to try to write a bit more of the essay over break; most likely I will be too busy spending time with family. I think I am set with information for this essay, it is just the matter of actually sitting down and writing it.
People designing surveys need to take special care in designing their questions in order to eliminate bias and to ensure that their results accurately depict the sentiments of the people surveyed.
English 101
Tuesday/Thursday 5:35 class
I am continuously working on getting more people to take part in my survey and am now also considering an interview or two to help create diverse points and view points within my paper. I have come to see that a lot of the answers i am receiving seem to match with what i thought they would be.
I thought the questions that were being asked in the portland survey were very interesting. They are random, yet all connect when it comes to the environment. And i don't even think about doing some of the things they ask, they are all so small. But i guess it goes to show how the small things really can make a difference if we actually put in the effort.
I feel like I have a lot of great content to write about and am excited to see how this final paper shapes out.
Courtney Alston
Mary Eskandari
I have revised my survey and it is now complete. I plan on getting most, if not all, of them complete over break so that I can work all next week on the actual construction of my paper. Over the break I plan on outlining the first part of my paper (since the second part requires all of the methodology to be complete) and formatting my section headings throughout my paper. I hope to only have the second part of the paper to do once I return from break.
What are the factors that lead students not to recycle?
So far work on the paper is going good.I created my survey and am still awaiting the final results, by the results I have now look promising. I had to revise it a little, but the feedback that I'm getting so far looks great.
Wiley McLeod
dispute for the 4 most important Lamas.
Much more importantly, it was instituted under Dynastic China, when the government was sympathetic to the concept of reincarnation and it was suggested in a collaborative spirit as a
sincere attempt at resolving a dispute. It was there primarily to settle dispute. If the Communists hadn't militarily occupied Tibet, that would never have become an issue that they'd have to hire people to spin.
If the whites imperialists had returned to Europe we would have 100s
of millions of Native Americans today.
All that's left is to put all of the pieces together for the final draft.
Alex reid
When comparing my survey to the Portland survey, it is evident that the Portland survey was able to reach a large audience and therefore will be more accurate in reflecting the public’s opinion on the issue of waste reduction. Considering demographics, my survey targeted college students at one university while the Portland survey was able to obtain data from an entire city of individuals with a broad age range and different backgrounds. However, I am conducting a short-term study while the Portland survey designed to be a long-term study, conducted by an entire organization with the goal of changing the attitudes of thousands of people waste reduction.
Currently, twelve people have taken the survey I created on survey monkey. I am currently planning out the empirical section of my paper following Dr. Taylor’s instructions from class. I am also working on improving my topic sentences in each paragraph I have wrote for the place, issue and theory sections in order to make each paragraph’s purpose more clear. I have also thought of adding in a factor I had previously not considered concerning my question: “Why do coal corporations dispose of coal slurry via coal slurry injection?” Coal corporations have an obligation to stockholders who invest in their companies. This is something that I realized due to my survey and I am trying to determine how I want to add this into my paper. Hopefully, I will be able to complete the majority of my remaining work on the paper over Thanksgiving break.
In regard to the Oregonian article, i liked it and thought it was rather interesting and helped spark some new ideas regarding surveys and research.
Kevin Permenter
I finished my survey and the results contradicted my initial theory so I might end up changing it. Also, I have started looking at going green fads to incorporate into my paper. All that is left is to bring it all together.
My paper will consist of interviews from people who have lived or have some type of connection to the Bronx, New York region and any type of knowledge of the gang affliations. I interviewed family and friends that I know who still live in the Bronx or have lived there or close by. The ages vary from 18 to 65. I have also been researching alot on the connections between gang violence and the newer generation born in the 90s and 2000s. These kids have a whole new outlook on life and have a lot of stuff they deal with. When my parents grew up they need the boundaries to push and they always had the family support but due to the fact this new generation does not have the same resources the ones before us did, I believe that is why the violence in urban regions is vastly growing.
This is an awesome idea! I think most importantly universities should take the first steps for sustainability. If students learn during college, they will be more bound to continue sustainable practices later down the road. Using statistics is an awesome way to lure people in to doing the right thing. However, I was reading the comments and apparently taxes are higher and their roads aren't getting fixed. The city needs to not focus only on sustainability, but they need to try to make the residents happy as well. A happy resident is a resident who will want to do good for the city as a whole.
I have gotten the results to my survey. Overall, most students from the demographic of ages 18-22 at North Carolina State University are very environmentally friendly regarding recycling and the awareness of their impact. My results show that individuals that are more environmentally conscious are more talkative and have higher levels of energy than those individuals that report to be less environmentally conscious. The conclusive results are very fascinating, and I intend to get more people to respond about their individual motivation and reasoning behind being environmentally friendly. I have started on the theoretical part of the paper and plan to begin the empirical section once the free response sections have been collected.
I have completed my research and have got back the results from my surveys. Some of the responses I received to my survey were surprising to me but I'm really excited to put it all together in my paper.