Characterizing Perceptions of Ecological Risk. Tim McDaniels, Larry Axelrod, and Paul Slovic, University of British Columbia; and Decision Research
This paper attempts to characterize perceived ecological risk, using the psychometric paradigm developed in the domain of human health risk perception. The research began by eliciting a set of scale characteristics and risk items (e.g., technologies, actions, events, beliefs) from focus group participants, that were used to develop and refine a survey instrument. Results are reported from two survey samples; one involving 68 university students, the second involving 180 citizens from four different communities. Factor analyses show that four or five factors characterize the judgment data. The factor results correspond with initial expectations and provide a plausible characterization of judgments regarding ecological risk. Some comparisons of responses for selected items are presented, including responses for perceptions of various issues related to global change processes. Implications for risk communication and other research efforts are discussed.