Giving voice to the ‘silent majority’

"There appears to be a widespread assumption that there is a ‘silent majority’ of people who support proposals but do not make submissions, and that those who do make submissions tend to be opposed and therefore do not reflect the true state of public opinion. The New Zealand Wind Energy Association (a membership-based wind industry association) suggested that it would be useful to examine whether this was actually the case, in respect to wind farms in particular. As researchers we were also interested in the broader question of why non-submitters might not be participating in formal planning processes, so we developed our research to address two questions: (a) how do non-submitters’ perspectives of proposed wind farms differ from those of submitters; and (b) why do nonsubmitters not make submissions? While these questions are relevant to all development proposals, wind farms are an excellent context for inquiry because they are highly visible, and thus potentially have an impact on a geographically widespread population, and because they are known to create strong feelings of support or opposition." • Janet Stephenson is a social scientist with a particular interest in societal responses to environmental challenges. She is the Director of the Centre for Sustainability at the University of Otago. Rob Lawson is in the marketing department at the University of Otago. His special area of expertise is in the study of consumer behaviour, with strong interests in the development of marketing theory. Policy Quarterly – Volume 9, Issue 1 – February 201

ImpaCT2: learning at home and school: case studies

Strand 3 explored the nature of teaching and learning involving ICT in various settings, with a focus on the views of pupils, teachers, and parents. Working in 15 of the 60 schools selected for Strands 1 and 2, this project focused on: learning and teaching environments; learning and teaching styles; and the impact of networked technologies on the perceptions of teachers, managers, pupils and parents. ImpaCT2 was a major longitudinal study (1999-2002) involving 60 schools in England, its aims were to: identify the impact of networked technologies on the school and out-of-school environment; determine whether or not this impact affected the educational attainment of pupils aged 8 - 16 years (at Key Stages 2, 3, and 4); and provide information that would assist in the formation of national, local and school policies on the deployment of ICT

Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours

Achieving a ‘step-change’ in energy efficiency behaviours will require enhanced knowledge of behavioural drivers, and translation of this knowledge into successful intervention programmes. The ‘Energy Cultures’ conceptual framework aims to assist in understanding the factors that influence energy consumption behaviour, and to help identify opportunities for behaviour change. Building on a history of attempts to offer multi-disciplinary integrating models of energy behaviour, we take a culture-based approach to behaviour, while drawing also from lifestyles and systems thinking. The framework provides a structure for addressing the problem of multiple interpretations of ‘behaviour’ by suggesting that it is influenced by the interactions between cognitive norms, energy practices and material culture. The Energy Cultures framework is discussed in the context of a New Zealand case study, which demonstrates its development and application. It has already provided a basis for cross-disciplinary collaboration, and for multi-disciplinary research design, and has provided insights into behavioural change in a case study community. As the conceptual basis of a 3-year research project, the framework has further potential to identify clusters of ‘energy cultures’ – similar patterns of norms, practices and/or material culture – to enable the crafting of targeted actions to achieve behaviour change

Unfitness to Plead. Volume 1: Report.

This has been produced along with Volume 2: Draft Legislation as a combined document Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 3(2) of the Law Commissions Act 1965 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 12 January 201

Understanding the energy consumption choices and coping mechanisms of fuel poor households in New Zealand

One in four households in New Zealand are fuel poor. A growing body of evidence links the technical and economic aspects of this phenomenon, however comparatively little research has focused on the wider social impacts. The behavioural and social interactions associated with fuel poverty have not taken centre stage in the literature. This study presents, through fuel poor households’ voices, the realities of living in energy hardship, and the impact on day to day lives. Our research finds that fuel poverty impacts widely on the quality of life of participants, and highlights the barriers and support systems in place that may hinder or help their circumstances. This in depth, multi-faceted portrayal of fuel poverty will aid in policy development and contribute to efforts to curtail fuel poverty in New Zealand.Peer Reviewe

Revealing the lifestyles of local food consumers

Changing consumption patterns have led to a number of transformations throughout the food cycle, and understanding how and why people purchase local food is important. This paper aims to examine the characteristics of the people leading this phenomenon: those that prefer to buy locally produced food. In order to explore the characteristics of local food purchasers, a single item question, “I try to buy a lot of locally produced food”, was included in the food section of a New Zealand consumer lifestyles survey for which 3,556 responses were collected. The full survey included 600 questions across the full attitude, interest and opinion schedule. For people who express a strong intention to purchase local food, this behaviour is linked to the types of food they eat (e.g. unprocessed foods), where they buy it (e.g. at speciality stores), and how they cook it (e.g. follow recipes). A range of personality and other personal characteristics differ between local and non-local food buyers, with the former segment being more liberal, interested in quality, and frugal. Consumers who express an interest in purchasing local food are a demanding segment of the population whose interest in food makes them critical judges of produce. Local food must thus be fresh and value for money. Growing this sector requires making local food more accessible through mainstream retail outlets. While something is known about why people buy local food, less is known about other aspects of local food consumers, the range of attitudes they hold towards food or their food-related behaviours

Understanding changes in household water consumption associated with Covid-19

This research project aims to understand how domestic water use has changed since the beginning of Covid-19 lockdown in England and Wales in March 2020. The research project takes an interdisciplinary perspective building on quantitative evidence of changes in water demand collected by Artesia; a rapid evidence assessment of news articles, grey literature, and peer reviewed journal articles; and six focus group discussions conducted with a total of 21 participants. The focus group discussions aimed to get participants to reflect about how their domestic water practices have changed in the months following the government’s ‘stay-at-home’ order in England and Wales. This included questions about changes in routines, schedules, patterns of mobility, hygiene meanings and expectations, ways of spending free time and the implications of those for household water usage. Participants were also asked to reflect onfuture trajectories of water consumption as restrictions are eased up. The project has been shaped by a practice-based approach to water demand

Heterogeneity in household preferences for energy-efficient heating systems

This paper reports analysis of the results of two stated-choice surveys to elicit the preferences of New Zealand homeowners for attributes of improvements in space and water heating systems. We implement the survey using web-based software especially well-suited to exploration of heterogeneity in preferences across participants; independently for each participant it provides estimates of the relative strength of preference for each attribute. Cluster analysis reveals five groups of participants with similar patterns of preferences. Interestingly, the cluster comprising people who prefer to avoid a large upfront expenditure – those targeted by current subsidy policy – is the smallest of the five clusters. The attributes of most concern to each of the other four groups suggest alternative policy interventions

Contrasting approaches to fuel poverty in New Zealand

We contrast two measures of fuel poverty in New Zealand. The first is based on estimated expenditure of over 10% of household income on fuel. The second is self-reported deprivation of fuel because of an inability to afford it. Households denoted as fuel poor on the two measures are mostly different and the findings suggest that research is needed to investigate if different households make different trade-offs between expenditure on fuel and other necessities.Peer Reviewe