Building on 15 years of research about the information practices of college students, the Project Information Literacy (PIL) team will be conducting a timely national study in 2023/2024 to survey a sample of Americans of all ages to ask: How do people's information worlds shape their response to climate change in a divided nation?

During June, we are seeking a few U.S. institutions active in climate education that are able to provide access to a student sample and some funding ($5,000) to add to funds raised already for conducting the study. In return, schools included in the study will receive data specific to their students about their information practices and will be contributing to a deeper understanding of information literacy across the nation at a critical moment for the planet.

Many studies have used surveys to ascertain what people say they know about climate change and their concerns. To date, however, no in-depth exploration has probed the technological and social infrastructures through which people shape their understanding of the climate crisis. 

In light of this gap, we will apply an information literacy lens to conduct a study on not what people in the U.S. know about climate change but rather how they form their understanding through beliefs, online and offline behaviors, and attitudes about the future of the planet.  

Project Description

PIL researchers will conduct two large-scale surveys two online surveys (1) a survey administered using a Qualtrics random sample of the general public, ages 16 - 85, (N=3500) and, (2) a comparative survey of undergraduates (N=3500) enrolled at six or seven US institutions.

These surveys will explore how individuals in each population construct their understanding of climate change. We will examine how people curate and shape their information worlds or collective arrangements of personalized news, information technologies, and social spaces through which people encounter and process information about the world around them. Segmenting our sample to include college students will allow us to investigate the degree to which young adults are being prepared to effect change about the climate crisis.

Data will be used to (1) map the shape and ideological terrain of information worlds in a country divided in its awareness of, attitudes to, and acceptance of climate change as a scientific fact; and (2) compare the information flows, personal belief systems, and community alliances that influence how people understand climate change and choose to take action, or not.

Next spring (2024), we will publish our findings through an open access report, interactive information visualizations, op-eds, essays, and podcasts for a variety of audiences in media, climate policy, and education. Our findings will inform advocacy at a time when collective action on the future of the planet is urgently needed. Our promotion and dissemination of deliverables will be enhanced by the project’s affiliated supporter, The National Research Defense Council (NRDC).

Interested in having your institution considered for study participation?

Each college or university that participates will be expected to contribute $5,000 to fund the study, matching funds we’ve already raised. In return, each institution in the college sample will each get a findings brief and survey dataset about student respondents exclusively from their institution. (Note: One institution in the sample will be "scholarshipped" for study participation, depending on need, fit, and lack of available funds to pay our participation fee.)

If you are interested in study participation in the PIL climate study, please take a few moments to answer the following questions and send us this form by Wednesday, August 9, 2023. (We only need one representative from each school to to sign up as our project's "research liaison.")

By completing this form you are expressing an interest in participating in our climate study, not a firm commitment to participate. We will reach out to you in early July about the status of your interest inquiry.

We anticipate there may be more responses for campus participation than there are available openings in our sample. We will, therefore, make the final sample selection based on geographic representation, student diversity, mix of small and large campuses, mix of rural vs. metropolitan campuses, and programmatic focus on climate change advocacy and research. (Thanks in advance for understanding the necessity of our selection process.)

If you want to discuss the PIL climate change study, please let me know in the next week or two. I'd be delighted to tell you more.

Thank you!

- Alison Head, PIL Executive Director and PI, PIL's Climate Change Study,

alison@pilresearch.org.in | 707-815-3996

Barbara Fister, PIL Scholar in Residence, Co-PI PIL's Climate Change Study

Steven Geofrey, PIL Senior Research Scientist, Co-PI PIL's Climate Change Study