Doctoral Dissertation Research: Moral foundation frame effectiveness in sustainable policy introductions

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

Across much of the United States, the public does not consider water policy a divisive topic; however as the limits of regional water resources are approached and water demands must be prioritized, there is high potential for water policy to become politically charged with liberals and conservatives maintaining divergent positions. The ability of water policy communicators to minimize polarization will affect the degree to which stakeholders are willing to work together toward water solutions. Research indicates that communicators can reduce polarization by purposefully framing natural resources challenges with moral positions, such as fairness, loyalty, and harm, that vary in resonance across the political spectrum. However, such studies focus primarily on issues such as climate change, where partisan opinions have already taken hold, not studies in which the objective is to prevent partisanship from forming. Further, few studies sufficiently model the competitive environment of policy introductions, with public officials and outside interests vying to define issues for the public, and with social cues, such as the political affiliations of spokespeople, indicating the positions that fellow partisans are expected to take. This project addresses these gaps, with an experimental assessment of the use of moral frames to prevent partisanship in competitive water policy introductions. The study will be conducted in two parts. First, Rasch modelling will be used to develop a water knowledge assessment. The assessment will be combined with a survey of water beliefs and administered to a sample of potential voters. The results will provide a detailed assessment of the public's comprehension of basic water science and regional water issues, indicate water subtopics from which polarization could develop, and identify the sources voters trust for water information. Based on these findings, the second part of the study will use an experimental design to simulate a competitive policy introduction. Two aspects of policy frames that convey value priorities will be assessed: moral foundations expressed through language and communicator identities that function as partisan decision heuristics. Additionally, characteristics of message recipients that moderate framing effects will be assessed including political self-identity and participant water knowledge as measured using the assessment developed in part one. From this research, a model will be created that describes how the influence of frame stimuli and the moderating characteristics of message recipients affect citizen-level sustainable policy decisions under competitive conditions. The research will clarify the conditions under which moral foundation frames restrain division on potentially divisive policy and provide more complete understanding of the degree to which non-competitive moral foundation framing studies set realistic expectations for frame effectiveness in applied policy scenarios. Findings of the research will be used to frame a series of publications about regional water challenges that increase water science literacy and promote informed citizen-level decision making. Research findings will also be published in a water communicator guide and shared with regional decision makers through Water Schools to help government officials and other community leaders guide productive water policy discourse. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.