University of New Hampshire
McNair Scholar, 2025
Major: Environmental Conservation & Sustainability
Mentor: Dr. Constantine Spandagos
Research Title: Climate Change Perspectives: Utilizing Behavioral Science to Observe Diverse Populations
Abstract:
Climate change is a global issue that is threatening future generations’ ability to ensure a sustainable future for all. While the climate crisis is widely acknowledged globally, the conversation of climate change has increasingly become controversial in the United States, where various perspectives on climate change fluctuate among individuals and population groups. To help understand how and why these perspectives are different, it is necessary to understand how people from different population groups are impacted depending on factors such as the individual’s income, educational background, age, ideology, and political values. Such differences often determine how people perceive climate change and how willing people are to advocate for climate change. Researching how framing and presentation of information can impact one’s perception of climate change can provide insight on how successful implementation for future bipartisan planning for climate change policy will be. Through a series of qualitative interviews, and by utilizing the snowballing approach involving UNH community members and local New Hampshire residents, perspectives about climate change across various incomes and generations will be observed. The proposed interviews will be directed towards professionals in specialized fields, while the surveys will target people in the common population. The proposed research will be a preliminary study examining the outcomes of information provision and utilizing various types of question framing on community members from different demographics such as levels of income, levels of education, and age.
