Are environmental attitudes influenced by survey context? An investigation of the context dependency of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale

General environmental attitudes are often measured with questions added to surveys about specific environmental or non-environmental issues. Using results from a large-scale national survey on the protection of threatened and endangered marine species, we examine whether the context of the survey in which New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale items are asked influence measured environmental concern. In this application the role that specific threatened or endangered species play in affecting responses to NEP Scale items is explored using a combination of non-parametric and parametric approaches. The results in this case suggest that context does influence stated general environmental attitudes, though the effects of context differ across NEP items.     

Contextual influences on environmental concerns cross-nationally: A multilevel investigation

Environmental issues continue to grow in international prominence, as environmental conditions are recognized as some of the most important problems facing the world. Research examining this globalization of environmental concern shown in public opinion surveys emphasizes the importance of context yet is currently underspecified. To address this gap, this research uses a multi-level, cross-national study to examine individual-level and country-level influences on three measures of environmental concern: environmental threat awareness, environmental efficacy, and willingness to pay. At the individual level, education, age, and gender affect environmental concerns. At the national level, economic, political, and environmental factors affect environmental concerns. Importantly, contextual factors differ in their effects depending on the dimension of environmental concern measured. Results from cross-level interactions for education confirm these complexities across these measures, supporting a dimensionality argument. The importance of the measurement of environmental concern shown in this research is emphasized for future cross-national scholarship.     

Using latent class analysis to produce a typology of environmental concern in the UK

Factor analysis is often used to study environmental concern. This choice of methodology is driven by predominant theories that tie environmental attitudes to the multidimensional construct of environmental concern. This paper demonstrates that using a clustering method such as latent class analysis can be a valuable tool for studying environmental attitudes as they exist within a given population. In making the case for the value of latent class analysis in this context, we examine UK public concern for the environment and how this concern is associated with pro-environmental behaviours. To do this we use responses to DEFRA's 2009 Survey of Public Attitudes and Behaviours towards the Environment, which is still the most nationally representative survey of its type in the UK. Grouping respondents according to homogenous response patterns, we identify four classes of people, defined by their concern for the environment: Pro-environment, Neutral Majority, Disengaged and Paradoxical. To understand how these attitude classes are associated with behaviour and socio-economic status, class membership probability is regressed onto education, income and social grade, as well as 16 measures of environmental behaviour related to transport, food, recycling and home energy conservation. The results contradict most previous research with the environmental attitude classes by being highly predictive of environmental behaviour.     

Context effects and the temporal stability of stated preferences

In stated preference studies it is assumed that individuals' answers reflect true preferences and are stable over time. We test these two assumptions of validity and reliability using as an example a choice experiment study on ethical consumption that measures preferences for a Peace Product jointly produced by Israeli and Palestinian producers as well as for organic products. In a web survey conducted in Germany, we investigate the validity assumption by manipulating the question context and presenting one group of respondents with questions on anti-Semitic and anti-Arabic attitudes before the choice tasks, and presenting another group with these questions after the choice tasks. In order to test the assumption of temporal stability, the same experimental set-up was repeated in a second survey based on a new sample ten months after the first. However, prior to the second survey an external event, a major violent dispute between Israelis and the Palestinians occurred. Overall, we find evidence for a context effect but not for temporal instability. In both surveys, the placement of the attitudinal questions before the choice tasks has a positive effect on the valuation of products from Israel, Palestinian products and the Peace Product (i.e. a directional context effect). The respondents seem to act according to an anti-discrimination norm. In line with this reasoning, we find an attention shift caused by the attitudinal questions. Organic products are valued much less positively if discriminatory attitudes are surveyed before the choice tasks. Furthermore, despite the violent dispute, stated preferences are very stable over time. This indicates high reliability of stated preference studies and encourages the use of study results by private and public decision makers.     

遗传资源的权属问题研究

遗传资源蕴涵的巨大经济价值引发权属之争,遗传资源的归属在国际上仍有争议。解决权属之争要理清的核心问题是:拥有遗传资源意味着什么、如何确定遗传资源的归属,以及多个主体怎样同时拥有遗传资源。遗传资源的价值在于遗传信息,拥有遗传资源不同于拥有遗传材料,拥有生物品种者拥有遗传资源;除法律另有规定外,驯化品种的遗传资源归驯化人所有,野生品种的遗传资源归生物自然栖息地的所有人或使用人享有。多人可以共有遗传资源。国家有权事先审查遗传资源的获取是否侵犯了遗传资源所有人的权利、是否损害了国家公共利益。     

Assessing the effect of social desirability on nativism attitude responses

Attempts to measure and analyze public opinion attitudes toward racial/ethnic minorities often confront the “social desirability” problem: those who have prejudiced attitudes are rarely willing to admit them to surveyors. Instead, they may be more likely to give a socially acceptable answer rather an accurate reflection of their views. Previous research has clearly established that this effect presents a challenge for accurately measuring self-reported racial and policy attitudes that primarily affect African–Americans. It is less clear, however, how it might affect self-reported responses to attitudes dealing with Latinos and immigration. This study thus seeks to analyze the extent to which social desirability may affect survey measures of perceived levels of cultural threat (nativism). Results from two separate analyses using the Crowne–Marlowe “social desirability scale” and a survey “list experiment” demonstrate that social desirability is indeed a concern for accurately measuring nativism in the American public, but that it exerts an opposite effect from what has previously been observed: nativist attitudes tend to be over-reported in opinion surveys.     

Response of sensitive behaviors to frequent measurement

We study the influence of frequent survey measurement on behavior. Widespread access to the Internet has made important breakthroughs in frequent measurement possible—potentially revolutionizing social science measurement of processes that change quickly over time. One key concern about using such frequent measurement is that it may influence the behavior being studied. We investigate this possibility using both a population-based experiment with random assignment to participation in a weekly journal for twelve months (versus no journal) and a large-scale, population-based, journal-keeping study with weekly measurement for 30 months. Results reveal few of the measured behaviors are correlated with assignment to frequent measurement. Theoretical reasoning regarding the likely behavioral response to frequent measurement correctly predicts domains most vulnerable to this possibility. Overall, however, we found little evidence of behavioral response to frequent measurement.     

Global biodiversity decline of marine and freshwater fish: A cross-national analysis of economic, demographic, and ecological influences

We test competing hypotheses from political–economic and neo-liberal theories about the effects of economic growth and urbanization on a neglected, but important, indicator of environmental health: aquatic biodiversity. We analyze cross-national data on the number of threatened fish species within national territorial waters using negative binomial regression. We find that, counter to the expectations of neo-liberal theories, economic growth increases the likelihood of fish species becoming threatened within nations. Urbanization, however, appears to have no additional effect. The “environmental Kuznets curve” does not hold for aquatic biodiversity, suggesting that further economic growth in nations is likely to escalate the biodiversity crisis.     

What can we learn from twin studies? A comprehensive evaluation of the equal environments assumption

Twin studies are a major source of information about genetic effects on behavior, but they depend on a controversial assumption known as the equal environments assumption (EEA): that similarity in co-twins’ environments is not predictive of similarity in co-twin outcomes. Although evidence has largely supported the EEA, critics have claimed that environmental similarity has not been measured well, and most studies of the EEA have focused on outcomes related to health and psychology. This article addresses these limitations through (1) a reanalysis of data from the most cited study of the EEA, Loehlin and Nichols (1976), using better measures, and through (2) an analysis of nationally representative twin data from MIDUS using more comprehensive controls on a wider variety of outcomes than previous studies. Results support a middle ground position; it is likely that the EEA is not strictly valid for most outcomes, but the resulting bias is likely modest.     

我国边疆地区公共危机管理的状况与对策——对内蒙古公众的调研分析

文章基于公共危机管理的公众视角,调查了内蒙古公众对我国边疆地区公共危机问题的关注现状、危机信息传播管理、社会安全感、公众对公共危机管理的评价和对策等内容.我国边疆地区公共危机管理具有重要性、复杂性、艰巨性的特点,呈现公众高度重视并积极参与的趋势.为此,建议我国边疆地区政府,要充分利用公众的偏好与其互动,重点加强社会突发事件的管理,改进教育、管理和培训方式,提高政府管理效力,完善公共危机管理政策.     

Social mobility in 20 modern societies: The role of economic and political context

It is commonly argued that social mobility rates are influenced by economic and political conditions. Nevertheless, research on this issue has tended to be hindered by two limitations that make it difficult to draw strong conclusions about contextual effects: (1) seldom have country-level and individual-level influences been tested simultaneously, and (2) only rarely have data more recent than the 1970s been employed. We improve on previous research by employing multilevel models fitted to relatively recent survey data collected from 20 modern societies by the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) and national-level characteristics derived from various official sources. Our findings demonstrate systematic cross-national variation in the association between the occupational status of respondents and their fathers. Consistent with the industrialization thesis, this variation is positively associated with per-capita GDP, suggesting that more affluent nations are characterized by more open and fluid stratification structures. Our results also suggest the importance of political regimes and migration for social mobility. In contrast, economic inequality appears to explain very little of the cross-national variation in mobility rates.     

“痴迷于这个星球的作家”— — 彼得·马修森的环境书写

作为环境保护主义者、自然文学家和小说家,美国国家图书奖二度获得者彼得·马修森的写作视野极其开阔.在自然文学写作中,他致力于描写人类足迹罕至的大自然;在小说创作中,他致力于揭示造成环境破坏背后的各种深层社会根源.无论是自然文学写作还是小说创作,从第一部作品《美洲野生生物》到最后一部作品《在天堂》,人与自然的关系及各种环境问题始终都处于其写作视野的中心,充分凸显了一个作家的生态情怀和社会责任感.     

“人生派”文学的历史沉浮与当代意义

在中国现代文学史上,人生派文学一直呈持续发展态势,以往论为人生文学,只关注五四这一块是不完整的。事实上,从五四到三四十年代,人生派文学都有强劲表现,且不断趋于成熟,显示其无可漠视的价值。由于人生派文学是接受欧洲文学思潮形成的,关注人、关注人生又是一个相当宽泛的话题,所以人生派文学还有更拓展的内涵。它有两种最基本的形态:一种是注重社会性的人生派,带有显著时代民族特色和较强社会功利色彩;另一种是主张浑然的人生的艺术,有较大的宽泛性和包容性,从宽泛意义上讲,京派文学也可纳入泛称的人生派。人生派文学已逐渐积淀成为中国新文学的一种优良传统,但因其与艺术派、阶级文学的对立,在现代中国的特定时代语境中,它既有顺利发展的幸遇,也有曲折前行的历程,甚至还有夹缝中生存的尴尬。检视其历史遭遇,对于我们深入认识、有效继承这个传统的经验是不无益处的。在当下文学由于过重私人化写作而使文学的接受形势变得日益严峻的时候,从文学关注人生、人生也关注文学的历史和现实中,汲取一些有益的经验和教训尤为必要。     

At which geographic scale does ethnic diversity affect intra-neighborhood social capital?

The claim that ethnic diversity within the living environment would hamper bonding and bridging social capital has been studied extensively, producing highly inconsistent findings. We studied whether ethnic diversity effects depend on the geographic scale at which ethnic diversity is measured. We examined ethnic diversity effects on intra- and inter-ethnic contacts in the neighborhood, respectively on opposition to ethnic in- and out-group neighbors. Hypotheses were derived from Blau’s meeting opportunities thesis and contact theory, ethnic competition theory, and constrict theory. Using information about 2545 Dutch respondents with their locality defined as egohoods and administrative units, we found that ethnic diversity effects vary with the geographic scale. Ethnic diversity of smaller localities is positively associated with bridging social capital. At larger scales, the findings are mixed: ethnic diversity is positively related to inter-ethnic contacts and opposition to out-group neighbors. Ethnic diversity of smaller localities is negatively related to bonding social capital. In contrast to often-made claims that diversity within the local context would matter most, estimates of diversity effects are not always stronger when diversity measures are aggregated to smaller geographic areas.     

环境竞争力—我国企业出口面临的新考验

当今世界已进入环保时代,人类对生态环境的关注与日俱增.各种涉及环境的贸易协议、措施相继出台,各种"绿色壁垒"日益多样化,对既已加入WTO的我国企业提出一系列新的挑战.为了提高我国产品的出口效益,全面参与国际市场竞争,我国企业应着眼于产品的"环境竞争力",顺应国际趋势,采取相应对策.     

The growth of survey research in the United States: Government-sponsored surveys, 1984-2004

Although it is widely assumed that survey requests to the general public have grown steadily over time, there are no good studies documenting the trend. This article describes the growth in survey requests from one sector of the industry: the US government. Using the 83-I clearance forms that agencies must file with the Office of Management and Budget in order to collect information from the public, we estimate the changes between 1984 and 2004 in the number of federal government surveys, number of respondents interviewed, average survey lengths, and total survey hours. In addition, we compare the changes in these variables with the changes in a measure of dollars spent on the surveys. The results are discussed in the context of the “over-surveying” explanation for the long-term decline in response rates to surveys.     

我国职业卫生事件健康教育的现状及对策浅探--以尘肺病事件为例

近年来我国重大职业卫生事件屡有发生,职业卫生健康教育的欠缺是很重要的原因。调查职业健康教育的现状、内容方式、保障机制等问题,采用问卷调查方法调查企业职工,得出统计分析结果,职业健康教育及保障严重不足,提出加强职业健康教育的对策,有效防范职业卫生事件。     

大连旅游宣传资料与公示语英译规范性调查

对大连旅游宣传资料与公示语英文翻译和使用现状进行调查,了解外籍人士的满意程度和需求状况,有助于发现翻译错误,探究错误原因。在此基础上,针对其功能性和语用性问题,制订相关的可行性方案,对规范大连旅游宣传资料与公示语英译具有一定的指导意义。     

基于互联网技术的市场调查应用研究

网上市场调查是信息时代一种新兴的信息收集和处理方式,具有传统市场调查所不具备的很多优势,但在应用中也存在一定的难点.本文结合中国网上市场调查的发展和现状,阐述了该方法的应用难点,并在调查主题的确定、问卷的设计、调查质量的保证和方法的灵活应用等方面,有针对性地提出了解决措施,以期能够在实践中得以有效地应用.     

英语世界隐私概念综述

在英语世界中,有诸多文献探讨隐私问题。这里只涉及话语、概念层面上对隐私涵义的探讨,而广义的、具体的、日常行为层面上的隐私定义则不在讨论之列。如果仅从具体日常行为角度研究隐私,我们很难知道隐私是如何被概念化的过程。所以,在特定文本中,应该像重视具体行为一样,来考察思想著作中隐私的功能、结构和价值。在概念层面上,研讨隐私并不要求有准确、唯一的定义。尽管从浩如烟海的文献中对隐私概念的考察难免挂一漏万,但它无疑勾画了当代西方世界对隐私理解和研究的大致轮廓。