A Qualitative Analysis of Corryville/CUF Resident Responses to
Environmental Risk
Tyler Reilly, Bethany See, Sarina Ware
Introduction
As the ongoing climate crisis and the broader effects of human activity on the
environment persist, it is necessary to monitor the public perception of environmental
risk. According to a survey conducted by Yale University, 73% of Americans believe
climate change is happening while only 10% believe global warming is not happening
(Leiserowitz et al., 2020).
Previous studies have used qualitative methodology to assess urban community
perceptions of specific risk relating to hydrological concerns or soil contamination
(Andrade et al, Kim et al, 2020), the target and degree of outrage related to
environmental concerns (Dettori et al, Shamur, 2021), and the generalized perception of
environmental hazards from urban planners (Macassa et al). Qualitative data can be
used to understand environmental issues on a deeper level, aiding decision making and
adding value to this process (Macura, B., et al, 2019). This qualitative research project
contributes to the field of research by providing real, authentic data directly from
Corryville/CUF resident interviews. Having these will not only widen the range of data
collected in terms of environmental perceptions, but bridge the gap between data and
the people affected by the pollution by not just having data, but being able to apply it to
the people it affects the most and create real change. This will, in turn, lead to better and
more permanent solutions to the climate crisis in the Corryville/CUF area.
"...transient residents, maybe,
makes it hard to get engagement
from community members..."
Method
This study began by collecting data from residents of the Corryville and CUF
neighborhood to further understand the environmental injustices plaguing their
communities. Our team addressed Corryville/CUF residents through a series of
interviews and focus groups that allowed them to express their concerns about the
environmental risks prevalent in their community. The quantitative data was then
compared to the data that was collected by the other Corryville/CUF group with our
qualitative data to see if it reveals any additional insights and connections. This was
achieved through one-on-one interviews and then focus groups. The interviews
contained questions that were more in depth pertaining to the environmental risks and
potential solutions for the community. The participants were asked to expand on their
residency and experiences in the respective neighborhoods. The questions were based
on environmental resources, the effects of development, their engagement within the
community, proximity to major institutions, and the challenges of dealing with
environmental issues/risks. The participants were asked to expand on each question.
After the answers from the focus group were transcribed, the results were read through
multiple times to get a good understanding of what was being said. Then began the
process of breaking down the transcript to start the analysis.
​ he first step was extracting all of the phrases that could be condensed into specific
T https://doi-org.uc.idm.oclc.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087913
meaning units. After there was a list of specific meaning units, those were then cut down
into the code words that properly summarized the theme of that phrase. The third step
was to group those code words into the categories that matched the central issue. This
was fairly easy because there were overarching themes that presented themselves when
reading through the transcript initially. Those code words were then moved into
a spreadsheet and correctly color coded based on the category/theme.
Discussion
In the process of this analysis, we isolated 7 subthemes that routinely
emerged in the resident responses. These were Controlling Waste,
Resources, Transience, Noise Pollution, Engagement, Historical
Meaning Unit "My biggest thing would be to see a lot Significance, and Environmental Change. From these broader code
more environmental safety and focus categories, we arrived at a broad theme summarizing the attitudes of
residents in our survey: there seems to be a feeling among residents
from the city"
that the area doesn’t have the resources nor the will to address the
environmental issues of the area; the issues feel inevitable. As one
resident said, “the proportion of transient residents, maybe, makes it
hard to get engagement from community members”. This issue of
transience breeding apathy was reiterated often. Furthermore, trash
Condensed meaning Environmental safety, city and waste became a frequent topic; “I feel like there is always a lot of
units responsibility trash all around campus”. However, concerns about the trash issue
become divisive, “every time the issue of trash comes up it becomes
very controversial… you've got people that accuse you of being elitist”.
Code Institutional responsibility This is not helped by noise pollution from nearby hospitals,
“ambulances are just off the hook. I mean, all the time, almost 24/7”. All
Category/Theme Resources of these compounding issues fester together, creating a cycle of apathy
in which residents have given up hope on caring for their neighborhood.
Figure 1: Example of the qualitative breakdown. As another resident stated, “I feel like that (the existing issues)
doesn’t help make it a community when everything looks bad too,
or is physically falling apart because you’re like it is what it is who
cares if I throw trash on the ground look at that house”. There is a
sense that Corryville/CUF is plagued by a pervasive apathy towards the
environmental issues facing the area. This apathy is, in the view of the
resident responses we analyzed, somewhat inevitable given the
prevalence of transient residents in the area. The nature of
Corryville/CUF as a renter-dominated, college campus neighborhood
means that many residents are only in the area for five years at most.
Furthermore, this transience seems to have strained the resources of
the neighborhood so much that they have become, in the resident’s
minds, inadequate services. All of this has made residents feel, in a
word, hopeless.To make environmentally concerned residents feel as
though their voices are heard and that progress is being made, this
sense of hopelessness and/or apathy needs to be reduced. While some
issues that were frequently brought up were viewed as necessary evils,
such as the noise pollution originating from nearby hospitals, other
issues can be mitigated by simply devoting more resources to
Corryville/CUF. Moreover, it’s important for these resources to be
designed and developed with the transient nature of many of the
neighborhood’s residents in mind. One repeatedly echoed sentiment
was that UC needs to do more to educate students to respect the
community they live in. One resident stated, “I feel like they (UC) don't
do anything for the community as much as awareness and teaching to
students”.
Acknowledgments
Everyone who participated in one-on-one interviews and focus groups in the Corryville/CUF community, in which without, this research would have been
impossible.
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