Once considered ground-breaking, public participation has made the leap to the
mainstream of environmental communication programs. Agencies often rely on public
participation programs to help shape environmental mitigation, gain acceptance of
environmental analyses and demonstrate an overall commitment to their environmental
missions. In its growing acceptance, however, the practice of public participation has gotten
ahead of the development of a solid, research-based foundation. Public participation is just
one example of this phenomenon. The communication field abounds with edicts and "best
management practices" developed without the benefit of solid research. This paper discusses
how theories derived from qualitative research can and should be tested before applying to
prescriptive practices. An example is presented from a study initiated in late 2002 and
completed in June 2003 testing concepts of effective public participation through an 800-person
random digit dial telephone survey. The study debunks one of the most commonly held
principles of effective public participation. In doing so, the study shows that however intuitively
satisfying and commonly accepted a concept may be, it cannot be considered valid until tested
through a scientifically rigorous research model. Suggestions are made about applying
the model used in the example to other commonly held beliefs about environmental
communication. Finally, ideas are presented for gaining access to cost-effective
quantitative research for the purpose of expanding the body of knowledge in the field of
communication. Includes 16 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 380 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 19 |
| Published : | 06/17/2004 |
