Michael D. Kaplowitz

Do focus groups and individual interviews reveal the same information for natural resource valuation

Abstract Focus groups and individual interviews have become accepted methods used in the initial stages of valuation research. Whether focus groups and individual interviews reveal similar valuation information has not been thoroughly studied. The research tests the hypothesis that focus groups yield the same ecosystem service information as do individual interviews. The research also explores how the focus group and individual interview data might differ. The analysis shows that focus groups and individual interviews are not substitutes. They yield different information about ecosystem services and resource uses.

Statistical analysis of sensitive topics in group and individual interviews

The relative strengths of focus groups and individualinterviews have been more the subject of speculationthan systematic research. This study statisticallytests the notion that participants in focus groups andindividual interviews equally raise sensitive topicsfor discussion. Ninety-seven year-round residents fromthe Chelém Lagoon region in Yucatán, Mexicoparticipated in 1 of 12 focus groups or 19 individualin-depth interviews. A professional moderator usingthe same discussion guide concerning the sharedmangrove ecosystem conducted the sessions. The 31sessions resulted in more than 500 pages oftranscripts which were systematically and iterativelycoded using a grounded theory approach. The codedqualitative data were transformed into summaryvariables that allowed for statistical analysis andtesting of the research hypothesis. The studyillustrates that the individual interviews were 18times more likely to raise socially sensitivediscussion topics than the focus groups. Additionally,the study found the two qualitative methods to revealcomplementary, not substitute, sets of information.

The Effect of Invitation Design on Web Survey Response Rates

Web surveys present methodological challenges including lower response rates as compared to other survey methods. The literature on invitations to participate in web surveys builds on previous research suggesting that advance letters are cost-effective means for increasing response rates in mail surveys and interviewer-administered surveys. The efficacy and appropriateness of design elements of invitations to participate in a web survey is not yet well understood. This research reports results of a full-factorial experiment (n = 15,652) of five design elements of web survey invitations—invitation mode, subject line, location of URL link, length of the invitation text, and survey time/effort estimate. There were significant effects of different design elements on response rates. The results suggest that some design elements of invitations may have similar effects across subsets of populations, while others may have different effects on different subsets of potential respondents.

The Economic Equivalency of Drained and Restored Wetlands in Michigan

Wetland ecosystems are valued for a range of ecological services. These services are protected by national, state, and local regulation. The primary federal wetland protection statute is Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1344). Under this statute, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), administers a review and permitting process for the “discharge of fill material” in “waters of the United States.” Since 1989, the guiding principle of federal wetland policy has been the “no net loss” of wetlands criterion (Gaddie and Regens). To implement this principle, the wetland permit process encourages potential dischargers to avoid and minimize wetland impacts wherever possible. Where wetlands are impaired or destroyed, wetland mitigation is required. Mitigation refers to actions taken to recreate, restore, or protect wetlands of an equivalent type and function to those being impaired or destroyed (Denison and Schmid). Since wetlands vary by type, ecological functions, and the services they yield to humans, the means for judging the equivalency of destroyed and mitigated wetlands is both problematic and central to successful implementation of the “no net loss” policy (National

Identifying ecosystem services using multiple methods: lessons from the mangrove wetlands of Yucatan, Mexico.

The failure to properly account forthe total value of environmental and natural resourcesresults in socially undesirable overexploitation anddegradation of complex ecosystems such as mangrovewetlands. However, most ecosystem valuation researchtoo often focuses on the question of “what is the value” and not enough on “what peoplevalue.” Nonmarket valuation practitioners have usedqualitative approaches in their work for some time.Yet, the relative strengths and weaknesses ofdifferent qualitative methods have been more thesubject of speculation than systematic research. Thestatistical examination of focus group and individualinterview data on ecosystem services illustrates thatthe two methods generate important but differentecosystem service data. Further, the data show thatthe use of multiple data collection methods offers amore robust understanding of what people value.

Assessing mangrove products and services at the local level: the use of focus groups and individual interviews

Information on the array of mangrove products and services used, understood, and perceived at the local level may help decision makers, stakeholders, and others make better resource management decisions. Qualitative research methods can reveal information on ecosystem products and services at the local level. In-depth interviews have been used to collect data on local use of mangrove wood and wood products. This paper reports on the use of both focus groups and individual interviews to learn from local beneficiaries about the array of ecosystem products and services associated with a mangrove ecosystem and explores the relative importance of wood products to local mangrove ecosystem beneficiaries. The analysis shows that focus groups and individual interviews reveal different information. Furthermore, the data show that the local resource beneficiaries do not view wood products as the most important service of the mangrove ecosystem.

Split-Sample Tests of "No Opinion" Responses in an Attribute-Based Choice Model

Researchers using questionnaires to elicit preferences must decide whether to include response options that allow respondents to express “no opinion.” Using a split-sample design, we explore the implications of alternative answer formats including and not including no-opinion responses in an attribute-based choice experiment. The results indicate that using multiple no-opinion responses may enable researchers to differentiate between respondents who choose no-opinion options due to satisficing and those expressing utility indifference. Existing literature suggests no-opinion responses may be treated as “no,” but our results show treating no-opinion responses as “no” can yield substantially disparate preference estimates. (JEL C25, Q24, Q25, Q51)

MICHIGAN RESIDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF WETLANDS AND MITIGATION

The regulation and management of wetlands is often contentious because wetlands share characteristics of both land, typically a private good, and water, typically treated as a public good. Landowners’ desires to develop “their property” with wetlands tend to conflict with the public benefits associated with healthy, intact wetland ecosystems. To understand better how residents in the state of Michigan, USA understand and perceive wetlands, a statewide telephone survey was undertaken. The survey of 1012 Michigan residents revealed most people to be very familiar with wetlands and think it very important to protect them. Across demographic groups, at least 60 percent of respondents believe it to be very important that wetlands exist both now and in the future. Multiple regression analysis suggests that younger, better educated, and wealthier people place greater importance than others on wetland existence; the analysis also indicates that Republicans seem to value wetlands slightly less than Democrats and Independents. Interestingly, respondents’ community type (e.g., rural, urban, suburban) appears to make relatively little difference on the importance of wetland existence.

Property rights, economics and the environment.

1. The Intersection Of Law, Economics, and Environmental Policy M.D. Kaplowitz 2. Legal Economic Perspectives: Property rights and economics for helping address environmental problems A. Randall 3. Regulatory Takings and Land Use Conflicts D.W. Bromley 4. How Perspectives On Property Rights Have Changed In The United States Supreme Court D.L. Callies Common Property and Natural Resources 5. Property Rights, The Commons, and Natural Resource Management B.J. McCay 6. Common Property And Natural Resource Management: A Michigan Perspective M.A. Lawrence 7. Property Rights, Tenure Systems and Managing Natural Capital R.A. Devlin 8. Purchasing Development Rights To Protect Farmland, Forests, and Open Space T. Daniels 9. Transferable Development Rights: A market-based land use control P. Machemer and M.D. Kaplowitz 10. Tradable Permit Approaches To Pollution Control: Faustian bargain or paradise regained T. Tietenberg 11. Coase And Car Repair: Who should be responsible for emissions of vehicles in use? W. Harrington and V.D. McConnnell New Approaches 12. Ethics and Tradable Permits: Pollution trading and the global atmosphere M. Sagoff 13. Shared Governance, Collaboration, and Innovation L.L. Marsh 14. Interdisciplinary Paradigms For Environmental Policy: Interrelations among ecology, law, and economics N. Mercuro

Local Markets for Payments for Environmental Services: Can Small Rural Communities Self-Finance Watershed Protection?

Payment for environmental service (PES) programs are innovative approaches for watershed and natural resources management that increasingly are being used around the world. Most well-studied PES examples rely predominately, if not entirely, on large governmental and outside non-governmental organizations for financial and management assistance. We examine the potential for using a locally-financed PES scheme in a small, agricultural community in a developing country as a means to preserve environmental services of watersheds, namely clean drinking water. A dichotomous choice, contingent valuation survey is used to examine the community’s demand for protection of the headwaters of the nearby river, the source of their drinking water. The survey results demonstrate local water users’ substantial willingness to pay for increased protection of the watershed environmental services. We find that a local-market PES scheme for watershed services, even in a relatively low-income context, may be sufficient to protect ecosystem services independent of external financial resources.