The survey on values, objectives, beliefs, and attitudes, implemented as a module of the National... more The survey on values, objectives, beliefs, and attitudes, implemented as a module of the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment, asked over 7,000 respondents nationwide about their values with respect to public lands, objectives for the management of these lands, beliefs about the role the USDA Forest Service should play in fulfilling those objectives, and attitudes about the job the agency has been doing. This report-one of a series of similar regional reports-shows respondents from the Pacific Southwest (USDA Forest Service Region 5: California and Hawaii) are quite similar to those of the rest of the United States, although respondents from the Pacific Southwest show a stronger tendency towards allowing access for diverse uses and are slightly less inclined toward informing the public. Nationwide, as in the Pacific Southwest, the most important objective was conserving and protecting forests and grassland watersheds. Other reports in the series Are We Achieving the Public's Objectives for Forests and Rangelands? • Survey Responses From Region 3 (Arizona and New Mexico) RMRS-GTR-156 • Survey Responses From Region 8
In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democra... more In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democracy. In today's policy world, communication is a key element of policy making. Too often groups become trapped in promoting their own narrative rather than building bridges to other groups by adopting alternative narratives. In this study, we ask, when involved in a public policy issue, do stakeholders analyze their audience? In other words, do stakeholders consider larger values and beliefs in an attempt to help orient a problem or issues when they move from discussing the issue with like-minded groups to discussing the issue with the general public? Our study uses a survey to examine how stakeholders involved in a river restoration issue switched or did not switch from their own personal message choice to what they believed was the best communication choice for talking about river restoration with the public. Overall, 47% of stakeholders switched their preference when asked how river restoration should be discussed with the public. We examine how attitudinal indicators, background information, and demographics related to which stakeholders switch and which did not switch their choices. The implications of these findings for democracy and policy analysis along with the ethical considerations of the research are discussed.
Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in to... more Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in today's policy world. This communication often takes the form of policy narratives; however, few studies have empirically examined what type of communication style stakeholders prefer for communication with the public. This study uses a survey of 87 river stakeholders to determine the preferred communication choices of stakeholders. The study finds that 39% of the stakeholders chose a duty-based narrative, 28% choose a science statement, 23% choose an engaged citizen narrative, and 10% choose a do nothing statement. Some of these preferences were related to issues of trust, other policy preferences, and demographic background. Based on previous research, the findings demonstrate that stakeholders can make decisions about how to communicate with the public that are not necessarily reflective of the own values.
Understanding the reasoning behind diverse views grows empathy and can help strengthen democracy.... more Understanding the reasoning behind diverse views grows empathy and can help strengthen democracy. This study examines narratives and their influence on individuals, to see if individuals only empathize with narratives from those with whom they share identity. Using an experimental design, we test empathy with working class climate change narratives. Results showed participants who agreed with anthropogenic climate change, who were given both evidence and a narrative, empathized with the narrator (either an organic farmer or a mechanic) that told a pro-climate change narrative. The greatest empathy was for the mechanic telling a pro-climate change narrative. Conversely, participants who did not agree with human-caused climate change and who were given evidence without narrative had more empathy for the organic farmer (over the mechanic) who told a pro-climate change narrative. Overall, we found some identity issues negatively influenced empathy, but we also found examples where indiv...
You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in label ... more You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in label form through one of the following media. Please specify the publication title and series number.
Narratives and the Policy Process : Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework, 2021
Narratives concerning the working class and their relationship to climate change are important. I... more Narratives concerning the working class and their relationship to climate change are important. In particular, how the narrative constructs the relationship and, within this, who communicates a narrative (the narrator) is key. That said, this is a less studied element; the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) has limited research on narrators. Subsequently, this work examines individuals’ support of narratives and narrators using an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) survey of 435 participants. After pretesting for climate change views, the subjects chose which narrator they expected to agree with: Mechanic Pat or Organic Farmer Chris. Through randomization, subjects joined either a congruent treatment group (Mechanic Pat tells the anti-climate change narrative and Organic Farmer Chris tells the pro-climate change narrative) or an incongruent treatment group (Mechanic Pat tells the pro-climate change narrative and Organic Farmer Pat tells the anti-climate change narrative). Results indicate...
Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in to... more Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in today's policy world. This communication often takes the form of policy narratives; however, few studies have empirically examined what type of communication style stakeholders prefer for communication with the public. This study uses a survey of 87 river stakeholders to determine the preferred communication choices of stakeholders. The study finds that 39% of the stakeholders chose a duty‐based narrative, 28% choose a science statement, 23% choose an engaged citizen narrative, and 10% choose a do nothing statement. Some of these preferences were related to issues of trust, other policy preferences, and demographic background. Based on previous research, the findings demonstrate that stakeholders can make decisions about how to communicate with the public that are not necessarily reflective of the own values.
In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democra... more In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democracy. In today's policy world, communication is a key element of policy making. Too often groups become trapped in promoting their own narrative rather than building bridges to other groups by adopting alternative narratives. In this study, we ask, when involved in a public policy issue, do stakeholders analyze their audience? In other words, do stakeholders consider larger values and beliefs in an attempt to help orient a problem or issues when they move from discussing the issue with like-minded groups to discussing the issue with the general public? Our study uses a survey to examine how stakeholders involved in a river restoration issue switched or did not switch from their own personal message choice to what they believed was the best communication choice for talking about river restoration with the public. Overall, 47% of stakeholders switched their preference when asked how river restoration should be discussed with the public. We examine how attitudinal indicators, background information, and demographics related to which stakeholders switch and which did not switch their choices. The implications of these findings for democracy and policy analysis along with the ethical considerations of the research are discussed.
The narrative policy framework (NPF) studies the role that policy narratives play in the public p... more The narrative policy framework (NPF) studies the role that policy narratives play in the public policy process. Much of that work (e.g., Jones and McBeth 2010; Shanahan et al. (2013) focuses on the academic implications of NPF for those who study public policy. Somewhat neglected in NPF research is the practitioner. Practitioners who work with politicians as experts (public administrators, scientists, analysts, and evaluators) often try to use science and data to convince elected officials and the public of the desirability of a certain policy. However, they also have to deal with the political realities of an organized opposition who weave policy narratives that do not always correspond to how the practitioner views the particular policy issue (e.g., Miller and Fox 2006; Miller 2002). Indeed, today’s policy environment encountered by the practitioner more closely resembles the business environment of marketing (McBeth and Shanahan 2004) than the “fact-based” scientific environment favored by scientists and policy analysts.
Recent studies have explored the dimensions of duty‐based versus engaged citizenship. These studi... more Recent studies have explored the dimensions of duty‐based versus engaged citizenship. These studies assert that individuals differ on the question of “what is a good citizen” and somehow suggest that “engaged citizens” are more participatory, global, and committed to social justice than their duty‐based counterparts. In this article, we examine, with an innovative survey methodology and merging of citizenship and framing literature, the potential effects of increased engaged citizenship on policy issues. Our questions explore the characteristics of citizenship and explore whether duty‐based and engaged citizens are more likely to support a policy, in this case recycling efforts, if the issue is framed in the context of their respective preferred citizenship norm. We find that the engaged recycling frame was strongly supported by individuals with a more engaged view of citizenship who also supported some duty‐based frames of recycling. Conversely, respondents with a more duty‐based v...
Recycling is an increasingly important tool in global and national efforts for sustainability. Ye... more Recycling is an increasingly important tool in global and national efforts for sustainability. Yet, particularly in the United States, there remains disconnect between those who view recycling as a necessity and those who see it as a waste: many conservatives do not support recycling activities, while many liberals do. However, recycling can be framed in language that draws support from
The survey on values, objectives, beliefs, and attitudes, implemented as a module of the National... more The survey on values, objectives, beliefs, and attitudes, implemented as a module of the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment, asked over 7,000 respondents nationwide about their values with respect to public lands, objectives for the management of these lands, beliefs about the role the USDA Forest Service should play in fulfilling those objectives, and attitudes about the job the agency has been doing. This report-one of a series of similar regional reports-shows respondents from the Pacific Southwest (USDA Forest Service Region 5: California and Hawaii) are quite similar to those of the rest of the United States, although respondents from the Pacific Southwest show a stronger tendency towards allowing access for diverse uses and are slightly less inclined toward informing the public. Nationwide, as in the Pacific Southwest, the most important objective was conserving and protecting forests and grassland watersheds. Other reports in the series Are We Achieving the Public's Objectives for Forests and Rangelands? • Survey Responses From Region 3 (Arizona and New Mexico) RMRS-GTR-156 • Survey Responses From Region 8
In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democra... more In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democracy. In today's policy world, communication is a key element of policy making. Too often groups become trapped in promoting their own narrative rather than building bridges to other groups by adopting alternative narratives. In this study, we ask, when involved in a public policy issue, do stakeholders analyze their audience? In other words, do stakeholders consider larger values and beliefs in an attempt to help orient a problem or issues when they move from discussing the issue with like-minded groups to discussing the issue with the general public? Our study uses a survey to examine how stakeholders involved in a river restoration issue switched or did not switch from their own personal message choice to what they believed was the best communication choice for talking about river restoration with the public. Overall, 47% of stakeholders switched their preference when asked how river restoration should be discussed with the public. We examine how attitudinal indicators, background information, and demographics related to which stakeholders switch and which did not switch their choices. The implications of these findings for democracy and policy analysis along with the ethical considerations of the research are discussed.
Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in to... more Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in today's policy world. This communication often takes the form of policy narratives; however, few studies have empirically examined what type of communication style stakeholders prefer for communication with the public. This study uses a survey of 87 river stakeholders to determine the preferred communication choices of stakeholders. The study finds that 39% of the stakeholders chose a duty-based narrative, 28% choose a science statement, 23% choose an engaged citizen narrative, and 10% choose a do nothing statement. Some of these preferences were related to issues of trust, other policy preferences, and demographic background. Based on previous research, the findings demonstrate that stakeholders can make decisions about how to communicate with the public that are not necessarily reflective of the own values.
Understanding the reasoning behind diverse views grows empathy and can help strengthen democracy.... more Understanding the reasoning behind diverse views grows empathy and can help strengthen democracy. This study examines narratives and their influence on individuals, to see if individuals only empathize with narratives from those with whom they share identity. Using an experimental design, we test empathy with working class climate change narratives. Results showed participants who agreed with anthropogenic climate change, who were given both evidence and a narrative, empathized with the narrator (either an organic farmer or a mechanic) that told a pro-climate change narrative. The greatest empathy was for the mechanic telling a pro-climate change narrative. Conversely, participants who did not agree with human-caused climate change and who were given evidence without narrative had more empathy for the organic farmer (over the mechanic) who told a pro-climate change narrative. Overall, we found some identity issues negatively influenced empathy, but we also found examples where indiv...
You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in label ... more You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in label form through one of the following media. Please specify the publication title and series number.
Narratives and the Policy Process : Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework, 2021
Narratives concerning the working class and their relationship to climate change are important. I... more Narratives concerning the working class and their relationship to climate change are important. In particular, how the narrative constructs the relationship and, within this, who communicates a narrative (the narrator) is key. That said, this is a less studied element; the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) has limited research on narrators. Subsequently, this work examines individuals’ support of narratives and narrators using an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) survey of 435 participants. After pretesting for climate change views, the subjects chose which narrator they expected to agree with: Mechanic Pat or Organic Farmer Chris. Through randomization, subjects joined either a congruent treatment group (Mechanic Pat tells the anti-climate change narrative and Organic Farmer Chris tells the pro-climate change narrative) or an incongruent treatment group (Mechanic Pat tells the pro-climate change narrative and Organic Farmer Pat tells the anti-climate change narrative). Results indicate...
Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in to... more Communication between stakeholders and the larger public is an increasingly important issue in today's policy world. This communication often takes the form of policy narratives; however, few studies have empirically examined what type of communication style stakeholders prefer for communication with the public. This study uses a survey of 87 river stakeholders to determine the preferred communication choices of stakeholders. The study finds that 39% of the stakeholders chose a duty‐based narrative, 28% choose a science statement, 23% choose an engaged citizen narrative, and 10% choose a do nothing statement. Some of these preferences were related to issues of trust, other policy preferences, and demographic background. Based on previous research, the findings demonstrate that stakeholders can make decisions about how to communicate with the public that are not necessarily reflective of the own values.
In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democra... more In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democracy. In today's policy world, communication is a key element of policy making. Too often groups become trapped in promoting their own narrative rather than building bridges to other groups by adopting alternative narratives. In this study, we ask, when involved in a public policy issue, do stakeholders analyze their audience? In other words, do stakeholders consider larger values and beliefs in an attempt to help orient a problem or issues when they move from discussing the issue with like-minded groups to discussing the issue with the general public? Our study uses a survey to examine how stakeholders involved in a river restoration issue switched or did not switch from their own personal message choice to what they believed was the best communication choice for talking about river restoration with the public. Overall, 47% of stakeholders switched their preference when asked how river restoration should be discussed with the public. We examine how attitudinal indicators, background information, and demographics related to which stakeholders switch and which did not switch their choices. The implications of these findings for democracy and policy analysis along with the ethical considerations of the research are discussed.
The narrative policy framework (NPF) studies the role that policy narratives play in the public p... more The narrative policy framework (NPF) studies the role that policy narratives play in the public policy process. Much of that work (e.g., Jones and McBeth 2010; Shanahan et al. (2013) focuses on the academic implications of NPF for those who study public policy. Somewhat neglected in NPF research is the practitioner. Practitioners who work with politicians as experts (public administrators, scientists, analysts, and evaluators) often try to use science and data to convince elected officials and the public of the desirability of a certain policy. However, they also have to deal with the political realities of an organized opposition who weave policy narratives that do not always correspond to how the practitioner views the particular policy issue (e.g., Miller and Fox 2006; Miller 2002). Indeed, today’s policy environment encountered by the practitioner more closely resembles the business environment of marketing (McBeth and Shanahan 2004) than the “fact-based” scientific environment favored by scientists and policy analysts.
Recent studies have explored the dimensions of duty‐based versus engaged citizenship. These studi... more Recent studies have explored the dimensions of duty‐based versus engaged citizenship. These studies assert that individuals differ on the question of “what is a good citizen” and somehow suggest that “engaged citizens” are more participatory, global, and committed to social justice than their duty‐based counterparts. In this article, we examine, with an innovative survey methodology and merging of citizenship and framing literature, the potential effects of increased engaged citizenship on policy issues. Our questions explore the characteristics of citizenship and explore whether duty‐based and engaged citizens are more likely to support a policy, in this case recycling efforts, if the issue is framed in the context of their respective preferred citizenship norm. We find that the engaged recycling frame was strongly supported by individuals with a more engaged view of citizenship who also supported some duty‐based frames of recycling. Conversely, respondents with a more duty‐based v...
Recycling is an increasingly important tool in global and national efforts for sustainability. Ye... more Recycling is an increasingly important tool in global and national efforts for sustainability. Yet, particularly in the United States, there remains disconnect between those who view recycling as a necessity and those who see it as a waste: many conservatives do not support recycling activities, while many liberals do. However, recycling can be framed in language that draws support from
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