News Article

iUTAH undergraduate student researchers Phillip André Valle from Weber State University and Zack Oldroyd from Utah State University, along with sociology professor Courtney Flint and colleagues from USU, featured their work with the Utah Water Voices survey conducted in summer 2015 in a recently released paper. A summary analysis of the study has been published in the Journal of Rural Social Science.

Both Valle and Oldroyd were part of the iFellows program, a research experience for undergraduates focused on iUTAH water projects in the state. The paper and project highlighted public water perspectives in parks in two Utah cities using an interactive form on iPad tablets to guide paperless interviews, which were also audio recorded. More information and audio samples can be found at Utah Water Voices.

The abstract of the paper states that the “undergraduate research assistants played key roles in carrying out this intercept survey project, highlighting potential for future application of this method with students, community groups, or citizen scientists.”

In addition to this paper on “Public Intercept Interviews And Surveys For Gathering Place-Based Perceptions: Observations From Community Water Research In Utah,” the publication includes Carla Trentelman’s research on “The Case for Personal Interaction: Drop-Off/Pick-Up Methodology for Survey Research,” and “Effectiveness of the Drop-Off/Pick-Up Survey Methodology in Different Neighborhood Types,” by Doug Jackson-Smith, Courtney Flint, Carla Trentelman, Grant Holyoak and others.

Journal Reference: Journal of Rural Social Science

 

Left: Zack Olyroyd collecting interviews and audio recordings on the Logan River in Utah. Right: André Valle conducting public water surveys at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City, UT