Doctoral Dissertation Research: Interorganizational Influences on Water Issue Awareness and Knowledge: Recognition Justice in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona

分配障碍和意识形态障碍可能会造成公众在环境决策中为自己的利益辩护的能力存在差异。这项研究的重点是组织之间的互动在形成公众对水资源问题的理解方面所起的作用，特别强调为亚利桑那州凤凰城市民提供的水教育。这项研究的目的是利用环境正义框架来了解：(1)凤凰城大都市水教育工作的地理分布；(2)公众接受度和知识在水教育努力高和低的地区之间的差异；(3)水教育差距的分布和质量(它们仅仅是空间上的差距，还是水教育努力和公众接受能力之间存在不匹配？这些差距有多大？)；(4)组织网络在公众对每个组织的有用性认知中的作用；(5)利用联系或改变组织网络结构的潜在方式，这可能会影响教育格局的公平和效率。为了实现这些目标，这项研究将使用参与式地理信息系统(GIS)方法，利用当地的专业知识来创建和评估地图，以描绘所有43个组织提供的关于水资源保护和水质信息的项目的空间重叠。地图将人口普查区域划分为接收“高”或“低”信息量的区域。这项研究还使用社会网络分析来分析组织之间的信息联系结构，以确定它们可能会对彼此产生多大的影响。最后，对三个教育者努力程度较高的社区和三个教育者努力程度较低的社区的居民进行多模式调查，以衡量水知识、信息感知、信息偏好和人口统计特征。这些发现将展示组织之间的关系如何影响公众对水的认识。调查人员预计，在对问题的认识上存在空间差异，但水教育提供者和亚群体之间的意识形态差异可能会明确排除传统上容易受到环境疾病影响的子群体。研究人员预测，组织之间的社交网络可能会解释为什么教育工作者可能会顺应旨在让公众了解当地水问题的次优活动。拟议的研究将公共信息的空间和意识形态元素作为环境正义问题进行考虑。然而，基于地理信息系统的环境正义研究很少涉及承认正义的概念，这表明人们必须在政策制定中拥有发言权。通过考察可获得的节水信息水平的模式，这项研究能够解决承认正义的问题。在方法论上，本研究提出了一种新的决策工具组合。例如，将参与式地理信息系统与组织之间关系的可视化和统计分析相结合，提高了信息对水教育工作者的重要性，并代表了未来可能有用的新的跨学科研究方法。这种类型的社会网络分析很少用于环境正义，为教育组织的选择提供背景，并洞察特定的信息或信息共享方法是如何流行的。这项研究在水管理领域也有潜在的用途。完成后，调查人员将为水资源教育工作者和水资源管理者举办一次会议，报告研究结果，并提供一个论坛，讨论如何将资源转移到更好地服务于亚利桑那州凤凰城大都市人口的水资源素养需求和环境目标。

Distributional and ideological barriers can create disparities in the ability of the public to advocate for their interests in particular environmental decisions. This research focuses on the roles interactions between organizations play in shaping public understanding of water resource issues, with a particular emphasis on water education provided to citizens of metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. The objectives of this study are to use an environmental justice framework to understand: (1) the geographic distribution of water education effort in metropolitan Phoenix; (2) how public receptiveness and knowledge differ across areas of high and low water education effort; (3) the distribution and qualities of water education gaps (Are they merely spatial or are there mismatches between water education effort and public receptiveness? How systemic are these gaps?); (4) the roles of organizational networks in public perceptions of each organization's usefulness; and (5) potential ways to take advantage of ties or making changes to the network structure of organizations that could influence the equity and efficiency of the educational landscape. To address these objectives, this research will use participatory geographic information systems (GIS) methods, which use local expertise to create and evaluate maps, to delineate the spatial overlap of programs provided by all 43 organizations providing information about water conservation and water quality. Maps designate census tracts as receiving "high" or "low" amounts of information. This research also uses social network analysis to analyze the structure of informational ties between organizations to determine how much they might influence each other. Finally, a multi-modal survey of residents in three "high" educator effort and three "low" educator effort neighborhoods will measure water knowledge, information perceptions, information preferences, and demographic characteristics. The findings will demonstrate ways in which relationships between organizations influence public awareness about water. The investigators expect that there are spatial differences in issue awareness, but that ideological differences between water education providers and sub-populations may categorically exclude subgroups traditionally vulnerable to environmental ills. Researchers predict that social networks between organizations may illuminate why educators may conform on sub-optimal campaigns designed to inform the public about local water issues.The proposed research is a consideration of spatial and ideological elements of public information as an environmental justice issue. However, GIS-based environmental justice studies rarely address the concept of recognition justice which suggests that people must have a voice in the development of policy. By examining patterns in the level of accessible information about water conservation, this study is able to address the issue of recognition justice. Methodologically, this research presents a new combination of decision making tools. For example, combining participatory GIS with visualizations and statistical analyses of the relationships between organizations enhances the salience of the information for water educators and represents new interdisciplinary research methods that can be useful in the future. This type of social network analysis is rarely used in environmental justice and provides context for the choices made by education organizations and insight into how particular messages or methods of information sharing become popular. This research also has potential use within the water management field. Upon completion, the investigators will host a meeting for water educators and water managers to report the results of the study and provide a forum for discussion about potential ways to shift resources to better serve the water literacy needs and environmental goals of the metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona population.