After more than two years of preparations, PIE Center researchers are ready to unveil their newest undertaking.
Faculty and staff will conduct four public opinion trend panels each year that focus on key issues in Florida, such as water quantity and quality, immigration, endangered and invasive species, as well as perceptions of organic, non-organic and local foods. The surveys will repeat annually to track changes in public opinion.
Although water is one of Florida’s most abundant resources, groundwater resources are being depleted by population growth, development and business and agricultural needs of the state. Residents and PIE Center stakeholders routinely identify water as one of the most pressing issues in the state, according to PIE Center Director Tracy Irani, so water was the logical topic for launching the ambitious research series.
“Even though we are surrounded by water on all three sides, we’re finding that in this state, water is a resource to be concerned about,” Irani said. “There’s a greater and greater understanding that this resource needs to be conserved and that individual citizens have a role to play in that.”
Alexa Lamm, the newest faculty researcher working with the PIE Center, developed and distributed an online survey in late 2012 to a panel of Florida residents demographically representative of the state based on 2010 Census results. Lamm is an assistant professor of public opinion analysis in the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication.
“At the state level, our lawmakers have to make policies that do the best job for as many citizens as possible,” she said. “They want to look at something that is going to be good for the state overall, as opposed to only benefitting one sector. When they look at results from public opinion panels like this one on water, stakeholders and policy makers communicating about these issues will be talking at the level that the public is actually at, rather than just assuming what everyone thinks.”
The PIE Center analyzed the 469 respondents’ answers and distributed a report written in an easy-to-understand manner that leaves recommendations and next steps for the reader to ponder.
“These panels are meant to be a snapshot view of what the public thinks, representing a slice in time in the state of Florida,” Lamm said. “Some of that interpretation is intentionally left up to individuals who may use the results for decision-making purposes. What we hope to do with these trend panels is to provide a very rigorous, reliable way of knowing what the public currently thinks about critical agriculture and natural resource issues.”
The PIE Center provides trusted research, training tools and leadership recommendations for a wide collection of people interested in addressing critical issues in agriculture and natural resources.
“It’s up to the citizens, the constituents, the policymakers and the scientists to work together to decide where the problems are, and what they want to do about it,” Irani said.
