Exploring concerns about and psychological responses to climate change awareness (upd 02/22)

The central aim of this project is to explore how individuals experience awareness of climate change, namely what individuals are concerned about and how they resolve or process these concerns. This project will advance our understanding of the psychological responses to, and impacts of, climate change awareness.

This project will make use of grounded theory methodology (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The aim is to generate a theory from data that is systematically collected and analysed. Grounded theory methodology makes use of procedures such as theoretical sampling, open, selective, and theoretical coding, conceptualisation, constant comparisons, and memoing. The goal is to develop a theory of patterned behaviour within a substantive area - in this case, patterned behaviour within climate change awareness. The result of this project will be a theory that can explain, predict, and interpret behaviours, as well as make applications.
Advantages of, and reasons to utilise grounded theory, are that the method provides theories that fit - they are easily applicable to and demonstrated by the data, and they work - they are meaningful, relevant, and able to explain behaviour in a substantive area. Grounded theory is an inductive method that gets to the core of what is happening within a specific context, and discovering this relevance is a strength of the method. This approach appears particularly necessary in a research area that is constituted largely by deductive and quantitative methods. Therefore, this project aims to contribute to the comprehensibility of existing knowledge in this research area by way of its inductive approach, use of qualitative data, and emphasis on relevance.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. In western nations, individuals are becoming more aware of climate change, it's causes and impacts, and are experiencing an array of psychological and behavioural responses. These include sadness, grief, guilt, anxiety, and denial, as well as expressing more environmentally sustainable behaviours. As knowledge and impacts of climate change continue to grow, so too will psychological responses and impacts (Edwards, 2008).

It is crucial that psychological research is dedicated to uncovering what it is that individuals are concerned about in relation to climate change, and what they are doing in response to this concern. This will better enable individuals to be supported as they continually process awareness of climate change. Specifically, the theory may highlight stages of people's experience that are highly meaningful, critical, or susceptible to intervention. It may also delineate the conditions under which people are more or less likely to engage, more or likely to respond adaptively and more or less likely to express sustainable behaviours. Delineating the stages and conditions of individuals' experiences of climate change awareness will be very relevant and useful in navigating current and future challenges that humanity will face in response to climate change.

The study will take 3 years to complete:
1st year = begin conducting one-to-one, semi-structured interviews with participants, while engaging in concurrent coding and analysis and writing memos. Complete approx. 12 interviews and begin writing methods section by conclusion of first year.
2nd year = continue to simultaneously collect data, code, analyse and memo. Have completed approx. 30 interviews and 15 follow-up interviews by conclusion of second year. Have method section written and the theory integrated and held in memos, ready for write up
3rd year = conduct and write literature review to place theory into wider research context and integrate existing concepts into theory, if relevant. Write up theory from memos.