Unlike other visual impact assessments, this project investigates the underlying values that people have about views with the intention of developing data that can be helpful in decision making affecting both viewsheds and the environment. Rogers spent a couple of months planning the project and developing a proposal for EPSCoR. The grant allows one undergraduate and one graduate student to serve as research assistants on the project; at the beginning of March, Ashley Hyde (a graduate student in the MS in Environmental Science and Policy program) and Rebecca Brown (an undergraduate Environmental Science and Policy major) began work on the pilot study. Their first task was a literature review and latent content analysis. That means going over news reports, records of public meetings, and other documentation to identify repeating themes that reflect the current range of opinions. If many people are expressing some version of a particular value, it’s probably relevant. Using the information they found during this initial process, they worked with Rogers to design questions that reflect those themes. “The literature review step to this study was really interesting,” Brown says. “It allowed me to learn more about viewsheds and the controversial issues around wind farms in particular. It’s exciting to interview members of the community to further understand the public’s opinion on this new technology. Hopefully our results will lead to a better understanding about the value of scenic views on a community level, which could be helpful in policy making in the future.” “Based on our literature review,” says Hyde, “it’s clear that landscapes are viewed in a holistic way and that integration of ecological, economical, and social values are key
to well-managed viewsheds. Social attitudes toward wind farms are an increasingly studied topic in Europe. The Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) effect was a concept that surfaced often. NIMBY suggests that there is an attitude-behavior gap in which people support the idea of wind power but they do not support the idea of having wind farms in their ‘backyard.’ It seems as though the locals who are more likely to support wind farms are those who were involved in a ‘fair’ planning process and had ownership in the project from the beginning development stages.” Hyde attended the North Country NH Listens discussion in Plymouth in March as part of this preliminary work. “We are only beginning to scratch the surface of local attitudes towards the Groton Wind Farm but currently there seems to be mixed support. The discussion revealed a strong desire to preserve New Hampshire’s natural assets for multiple interests.” Brown and Hyde are identifying a small group of stakeholders—seven to 10 people with an interest in the topic from towns surrounding the wind farm, such as Groton, Rumney, and Plymouth. With help and oversight from Rogers, the students are conducting individual interviews with these stakeholders, asking the questions they’ve developed while leaving room for new topics to arise naturally in the course of conversation. If funding allows, Rogers would like to follow up the interviews with a community workshop that would take place over several hours and explore similar
questions to generate even more ideas and perspectives. Rogers and her team will use a qualitative analysis software called NVivo to draw out themes and summarize responses. Qualitative analysis is frequently used in the social sciences to analyze data that is difficult to put into numbers. Unlike quantitative analysis, which focuses on measurement for statistical, mathematical, or computational results, qualitative analysis helps
researchers to interpret data from that hard-to-quantify and often contradictory factor: human beings.
Typically, qualitative research involves focusing on smaller groups, as in the Viewshed Valuation Pilot Study. Since the number of people being interviewed is relatively low, Rogers points out that these responses can’t be considered to represent the perspectives of everyone in the community but are useful in determining what the different perspectives are. Small pilot studies like this one are often used to generate the data needed to pursue larger, more comprehensive studies down the road. “It’s the opportunity to pursue research like this that attracts students to Plymouth State’s program in Environmental Science and Policy,” says CFE Director and Professor Joe Boyer, who adds that in the past five years, the program has grown to 120 student-majors. “We’re hoping they will continue into the graduate program, which can lead to academic careers or better jobs in an agency or company.
Spring/Summer 2013 | Plymouth Magazine 17