A Comparative Study of The Role of Values In Reasoning about Socio-hydrological Issues in Undergraduate Students

1. A Comparative Study of The Role of Values
in Reasoning about Socio-hydrological
Issues in Undergraduate Students
Destini Petitt
Advisor: Dr. Cory Forbes
04/26/2018

2. A little bit about me…
•From: Pumpkintown, SC
•Education
• 2013 – AS, AA Tri-County Tech
• 2016 – BS Wildlife Biology Lees-McRae College
• May 2018 – MS Natural Resources Science UNL
• Passions
• All things freshwater
• Gardening
• Spending time with my pets! Chalchiuhtlicue – Aztec goddess of water

3. Research and Presentation Activities
• Teaching & Research Assistant for
SCIL 109 ‘Water In Society’
• UNL SNR STEM ED Retreat (2016)
• Nebraska Water Symposium (2016)
• Water For Food Global Conference
(2017)
• Geological Society of America
Conference (2017)
• National Association of Research in
Science Teaching (2018)
• Earth Educators Rendezvous (July 2018)
• Teaching Assistant for SCIL 101
‘Decision-making for a Complex
World’
• Thesis research: The Role of Values
in reasoning about socio-
hydrological issues
• Defended March 30th, 2018

4. Role of values in socio-hydrological reasoning
• Values are the result of multiple
experiences (Lam, 1999)
• Many stakeholders bring a variety
values to the table
• Probability of decision success is
higher if all values are considered
(Gregory, 2000; Wilson & Arvai, 2006)
• Focus: Studies on developed
countries do not provide developing
countries’ values in their research
(Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010)

5. Study Rationale
• Research aligns with UN’s 2030
Goals (UN, 2015) which call for
sustainable management of natural
resources
• Ending poverty in all its forms
• Promoting sustainable agriculture
• Ensuring availability and
sustainable management of water
and sanitation for all
• Making human settlements
sustainable
• Better understand the roles values play
in socio-hydrological reasoning
• 96% of behavioral research is conducted
in developed countries (Henrich, Heine,
& Norenzayan, 2010)
• 82% of the world’s population reside in
developing countries (UN, 2015)
• Need to understand how this large
majority reason about SHIs

6. Research Questions
• RQ1: Do students from developed and developing countries
identify with different priority values?
• RQ2: If so, are there differences in the use of priority values in
reasoning? Does the use of priority values influence quality of
reasoning?

7. RQ1: Results & Findings
• Do students from developed and developing countries identify with different
priority values?
• Yes!

8. RQ1: Results & Findings
•Results indicate a statistically significant difference in identification with the
value Security between the two research groups
• (W = 824,
p < 0.001)

9. RQ2: Results & Findings
• Are there differences in the use of priority values in reasoning?
• Yes!
• (t(75) = -7.01, p < 0.001)

10. RQ2: Results & Findings
• Does the use of priority values influence quality of reasoning?
• Yes!
• (W = 584, p < 0.001)

11. Discussion & Implications
• Understanding the role that values
play and including values in
decision-making will allow for a
higher probability of successful
water management
• Understanding and including
values in water management plans
is essential for the sustainability of
water resources
• Future: Everyone will have access
to the water they need
• With hard work and a better
understanding of how stakeholders’
values differ and how those
stakeholders draw upon their values
to reason about SHIs
• Study provides evidence that students
from developed and developing
countries identify with different priority
values
• Due to differing background factors
• These students also reason differently
• Drawing upon their differing priority
values
• Developing country students have
higher quality reasoning

12. Thank You
Destini1992@huskers.unl.edu
waterforfood.nebraska.edu