Understanding and Communicating about Public Opinion Surveys

Understanding and Communicating

about Public Opinion Surveys

Settle, Bernheim, Rumble, Lamm, Irani, & Odera

Overview• Survey results & Implications

• Dissemination

SURVEY RESULTS

Overview• Quarterly

– Water resources

– Undocumented immigration

– Endangered species

– Food production

What we do• Develop based on key issues in Florida

• Panel of experts

• Survey about 500 Floridians online

RESULTS & IMPLICATIONS

Water Resources• Cities and agriculture water use prioritized

over commerce, landscaping, and golf courses

• Largely unaware of lawsuit filed against Georgia

• More concerned with water quality than availability

– About 40% have had water quality issues

Water Resources• Engage in some but not all water resource

protection behaviors

• Willing to alter landscape to be more

conservation-friendly

• Prefer passive behaviors (e.g., not

overwatering) than volunteering or paying

Implications• Agricultural production valued

• Opportunities to improve landscaping

practices

• Need for communicating about water

conservation

Undocumented Immigration• Believe agriculture is where most

undocumented immigrants work

• Support use of E-Verify, even if it harms

agricultural production

Implications• Need to improve guest worker programs to

provide legal workforce in agriculture

Endangered Species• Habitat loss viewed as biggest threat

• ESA should be strengthened

• ES protection is everyone’s responsibility

• Support landowner incentives

– But believe landowners have responsibility to protect ES even if incentives unavailable

• Prefer passive behaviors over paying/volunteering to protect ES

Implications• Industry needs to show commitment to

protecting ES

• Pursue policies that aid incentives

Food Production• Food safety a concern, especially related

to technology impacts (e.g., GMOs,

pesticides, antibiotics)

• More concerned about meats than other

produce

• Food security viewed more as an

international than a domestic concern

Implications• Communication needs to be improved

about technology in food production

– They were largely unaware or unsure

DISSEMINATION

How we put the

information out there

• Reports

• ‘Special report’

webpages

• Articles

• Trends & Topics

• Blogs

• Videos

• Infographics

• Webinars

• Workshops

Reports

• Executive summary

• Light on text, show

results with graphs

• Leave out

recommendations

Special reportwebpage

• Visually

interesting

• Hub for each

topic and

component

• Connect with

other issues

Articles

• Many people involved

• Bite-size chunks of information

• Context and analysis of results

• Knowledge gaps

Trends & Topics

• Monthly topic, weekly emails

• Related or current issues

• Promotion for other products

• Look behind the curtain

Guest

bloggers

• Expert panelists

• Science behind

the issue

• Promote other

UF/IFAS

programming

Videos

• Subject matter

experts

• Analysis &

implications of

results

• New entry point,

new medium

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ZzUl48Plw

Infographics• Conveys a lot of information in a visually

appealing way

• Organize results to tell a story, share how they’re related

Webinars

• Even more experts

• Implications,

related issues and

knowledge gaps

• Chance to interact,

ask questions

In-person workshops

• Help Extension

communicate about

contentious issues

• Better serve

audiences

• In-depth, tailored to

participants

Questions?• [email protected]

• [email protected]