Due to increased demands for irrigation water, the availability of groundwater has been a growing problem in Kansas, where the future of the High Plains aquifer is in jeopardy. This article investigates the environmental stewardship of Kansas well owners, a key social group whose protection of water supplies is pivotal to prolonging groundwater formations. My guiding research question is: Does owning a well lead to a distinct form of citizenship? To answer this, I constructed one of the only data sets of well owners used in sociology by surveying 864 well owners and non-well owners throughout Kansas. My findings reveal that well owners are more aware of the state's water supplies than the general population, they express environmental motivations to conserve water, they deliberately conserve water more often than non-well owners, and well ownership is significantly correlated with highly ranking water security as a challenge facing Kansas. Furthermore, a majority of well owners check their well depth and test for water contamination, routines that connect them to their water supply. This suggests that well owners exhibit "groundwater citizenship" and can be conceptualized as aquifer stewards.
Groundwater depletion has been a consequential problem in Kansas, a drought-prone state widely reliant on the High Plains aquifer. This manuscript explores well ownership’s moderating effects on the relationships between awareness of water supplies and the use of water-saving devices. It assesses one of the only quantitative datasets of private water well owners used in social scientific research (n = 864) and discusses the intricate results of multi-group structural equation models with respondents organized by their water supplies. Well ownership and water literacy are significantly correlated to owning water-conservation technologies, and well ownership combined with access to municipal water weakens the correlations between awareness and owning water-saving appliances.
This study evaluated the sampling methods and sample populations used in all U.S.based survey and experimental mass communication studies published between 2000 and 2014 in six major journals (N = 1,173). Most studies used nonprobability samples and more than half used student samples. Experiments used more nonprobability and student samples than surveys.Funded studies used more probability and non-student samples than non-funded studies.Implications of results pertaining to population validity and interpretations of findings for mass communication research are discussed.
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