Theresa A. Satterfield

Gender, race, and perceived risk: The 'white male' effect

Risks tend to be judged lower by men than by women and by white people than by people of colour. Prior research by Flynn, Slovic and Mertz [Risk Analysis, 14, pp. 1101-1108] found that these race and gender differences in risk perception in the United States were primarily due to 30% of the white male population who judge risks to be extremely low. The specificity of this finding suggests an explanation in terms of sociopolitical factors rather than biological factors. The study reported here presents new data from a recent national survey conducted in the United States. Although white males again stood apart with respect to their judgements of risk and their attitudes concerning worldviews, trust, and risk-related stigma, the results showed that the distinction between white males and others is more complex than originally thought. Further investigation of sociopolitical factors in risk judgements is recommended to clarify gender and racial differences.

In Search of Value Literacy: Suggestions for the Elicitation of Environmental Values

This paper recognises the many contributions to work on environmental values while arguing that some reconsideration of elicitation practices is warranted. It argues that speaking and thinking about certain environmental values, particularly ethical expressions, are ill-matched with the affectively neutral, direct question-answer formats standard to willingness-to-pay and survey methods. Several indirect, narrated, and affectively resonant elicitation tasks were used to provide study participants with new opportunities to express their values. Coded results demonstrate that morally resonant, image-based, and narrative-style elicitation tasks help respondents articulate a broader range of noncost and nonutilitarian environmental values. However, it was found that elicitations of this kind are most useful when presented in a affectively subtle and noncontroversial form. Several suggestions for synthesising these methods with more structured forms (e.g., surveys, constructed preferences, etc.) are offered.

Beyond Perception: The Experience of Risk and Stigma in Community Contexts

Concerns about stigmatization are an important influence on the development of risk management and communication policies for a wide range of technologies and products such as those associated with hazardous waste storage, nuclear power, and genetic engineering of plants or foods. Although much attention has been placed on the adverse economic effects of stigma, we believe that the social, psychological, and cultural impacts are often at least as significant and merit greater attention from policymakers and researchers. Evidence for these impacts of stigma is found in recent studies of resource-based communities, whose residents may be shunned by local and nonlocal publics and whose products may suffer a loss of markets, which in turn creates social and economic hardship for community residents. We examine these aspects of stigma and link descriptions of the problem and prescriptions of recommended policies to five underlying characteristics of stigma, focusing on the possible insights and contributions from trade-off analysis and narrative approaches.

Perceived risks and reported behaviors associated with osteoporosis and its treatment.

ABSTRACT This study investigates older American womens knowledge and risk perceptions about osteoporosis and its treatment. Our results indicate that older U.S. women undervalue the health impact of osteoporosis; they consider it controllable, and neither life threatening nor dreaded relative to other possible diseases or conditions. At least 1/3 of older women in a diagnosed and general sample also confused osteoporosis with arthritis. Women scored highest on osteoporosis knowledge questions related to items under their personal control, such as diet or exercise. Further, women who understood the effects of a particular behavior on osteoporosis were more likely to act in accordance with that knowledge than were women who did not understand those effects.

Reconciling environmental values and pragmatic choices

Renewed attention has been granted to the link between environmental values and management directives or policies. This article argues that standard survey techniques can mask the situational richness that connects a stated value or objective to a related management action. Consequently, new analytic techniques are needed—techniques that more closely follow the reasoning that connects values with actions in specific contexts. We describe the use of one such experimental technique, a “decision pathways” questionnaire, and present the results of its application during a survey of vegetation‐management alternatives in Ontario.

Risk as narrative value: a theoretical framework for facilitating the biotechnology debate

Maintaining the global public good character of agricultural biotechnology requires the blending of many different values. Sometimes, however, there are large gaps between the values held by different stakeholder groups. Furthermore, there is a contradiction between what people say they value, and how they actually behave. Articulating and overcoming gaps and contradictions is key to reducing polarisation in risk deliberations. This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding risk as value, and narrative as a tool for facilitating the global biotechnology debate.

Community Surveys: Low Dose Radiation. Fernald, Ohio and Rocky Flats, Colorado

This report is intended to present a basic description of the data from the two community surveys and to document the text of the questions; the methods used for the survey data collection; and a brief overview of the results. Completed surveys were conducted at local communities near the Rocky Flats, Colorado and the Fernald, Ohio sites; no survey was conducted for the Brookhaven, New York site. Fernald. The Fernald sample was randomly selected from 98% of all potential residential telephones in the townships of Ross, Morgan, and Crosby. The only telephone exchanges not used for the Fernald study had 4%, or fewer, of the holders of the telephone numbers actually living in either of the three target townships. Surveying started on July 24, 2001 and finished on August 30, 2001. A total of 399 completed interviews were obtained resulting in a CASRO response rate of 41.8%. The average length of an interview was 16.5 minutes. Rocky Flats. The sample was randomly selected from all potential residential telephones in Arvada and from 99% of the potential telephones in Westminster. Surveying started on August 10, 2001 and finished on September 25, 2001. A total of 401 completed interviews were obtained with a CASRO response rate of 32.5%. The average length of an interview was 15.7 minutes. Overall, respondents hold favorable views of science. They indicate an interest in developments in science and technology, feel that the world is better off because of science, and that science makes our lives healthier, easier, and more comfortable. However, respondents are divided on whether science should decide what is safe or not safe for themselves and their families. The majority of the respondents think that standards for exposure to radiation should be based on what science knows about health effects of radiation and on what is possible with todays technology. Although few respondents had visited the sites, most had heard or read something about Fernald or Rocky Flat s in the media. Impressions of the sites tend to be negative. Most respondents feel that overall their community would be better off without the site. However, when asked about the economic future of their community after cleanup and closure of the site, only 31-43% thought that it will be better, 47-56% thought their local economy will be about the same.

A Survey of Forest- Management Information Needs in British Columbia

This report presents the results of a survey of client needs that was conducted by Decision Science Research Institute on behalf of the Southern Interior Forest Extension and Research Partnership. The survey was designed to identify the primary information needs of Partnership members; to define the key barriers limiting access to relevant information; to determine the perceived quality of, and users’ trust in, various sources of information; and to understand better the opinions of Partnership clients regarding alternative presentation formats and different options for the dissemination of selected information types.