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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2012

• Title: Clearing up the fog: An analysis of knowledge and uncertainty in Conservation Awareness Index data
• Author: Laura Bartock (University of Maryland Baltimore County)
• Abstract:

  Families privately own the overwhelming majority of Massachusetts’ woodland. For this reason, it is important to understand the conservation awareness and decision-making processes of these families in order to understand the way the forests of Massachusetts may change in the coming years. The Conservation Awareness Index (CAI) has been used in multiple studies to assess general awareness of conservation options among landowners in Massachusetts. In this study, survey data from CAI 1.0 (2010), 2.0 (2011), and 3.0 (2012) are used to determine which questions are answered correctly most frequently, as well as which questions are answered as “don’t know” or left unanswered most frequently. Additionally, through an exploratory interview format, qualitative data from CAI 4.0 (2012) is examined to determine on which questions participants experience “fog,” a term for expression of uncertainty or hesitation, most often. Both quantitative and qualitative data were also analyzed to determine differences in knowledge and differences in uncertainty by generation.
  
  
  
  Across several measures, conservation restrictions ranked most uncertain among the true/false questions. Among the true/false questions, the first generation more frequently responded with “don’t know” or no answer more often than the second generation. However, when the first generation responded with either true or false, they were more likely to answer correctly than the second generation. When examining qualitative “fog” data from the interviews, the estate planning subsection had the highest degree of uncertainty of the four subsections. However the overwhelming majority of the uncertainty was focused on one question, whereas, in other sections, uncertainty was spread across all questions. There is no significant difference in uncertainty between the generations. These findings suggest that long-term conservation strategies, conservation restrictions and estate planning, should be clarified in conservation outreach and education. Furthermore, generational differences are slight enough that no significant change can be predicted for the future.

• Research Category: Conservation and Management