Journal Facts

Journal
Journal of Environmental Systems
ISSN
0047-2433 (print) 1541-3802 (electronic)
Volume
25
Issue
1
Date
1/1/1996

Article Facts

Title
The Ways People Think About Water
DOI
10.2190/5H45-YUXH-MPL0-PNT8
Authors
  • Blair E. Nancarrow
  • Leigh M. Smith
  • Geoffrey J. Syme
Pages
15-27
Online Date
05/09/2002

Article Links

The Ways People Think About Water

Blair E. Nancarrow
Leigh M. Smith
Geoffrey J. Syme

DOI: 10.2190/5H45-YUXH-MPL0-PNT8

Abstract

Despite the significance of water in all facets of human life, there is little replicated information about how people think about the resource. In this study, two samples of people were asked how often they "thought about water" in fourteen different contexts varying from the "rights to water" and its environmental and aesthetic significance, to aspects of water as a domestic commodity. the responses to many questions were often skewed. Responses to the questions were found to be largely independent. However, three consistent factors emerged: "conservation," "aesthetics," and "utility." Cluster analysis showed consistent patterns of responses between the two samples. Attitudes toward personal rights to water was an influential variable in cluster analysis. Cluster membership did not relate to household water consumption. Further research, using hierarchical models of thinking and relating cluster membership to water-policy attitudes is suggested.

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