Grantee Research Project Results
2003 Progress Report: Combining Psychological and Economic Methods to Improve Understanding of Factors Determining Adults’ Valuation of Children’s Health
EPA Grant Number: R830823Title: Combining Psychological and Economic Methods to Improve Understanding of Factors Determining Adults’ Valuation of Children’s Health
Investigators: Asmus, Cheryl , Loomis, John , Cooney, Helen , Bell, Paul
Current Investigators: Asmus, Cheryl , Loomis, John , Bell, Paul
Institution: Colorado State University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2005
Project Period Covered by this Report: July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2003
Project Amount: $399,727
RFA: Valuation of Environmental Impacts on Children's Health (2002) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Children's Health , Environmental Justice , Human Health
Objective:
The objective of this research project is to test a hybrid method that combines the theory of planned behavior and conjoint analysis for determining adults’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) to protect children’s health, with the method to be adapted for policymaking. For the development of this method, nitrate in drinking water serves as the risk factor because it only affects infants’ health. Data will be collected from pregnant women, parents of newborns, parents with young children, older adults with grandchildren, and older adults with no grandchildren in three different regions of Colorado: San Luis Valley, Eastern Plains, and the Front Range. Other objectives of this research project include investigating possible cultural differences in WTP with respect to protecting infants’ health and determining what relationship environmental attitudes have to WTP to protect infants’ health from the risks associated with consuming drinking water that contains unsafe levels of nitrate.
Progress Summary:
Focus groups with three expert panels (nitrate/water quality, health, and methodology) have been conducted to provide a better understanding of issues related to their respective areas of expertise as well as feedback on proposed survey items and methodological issues. These focus groups provided crucial information concerning item wording, health and research issues pertinent to rural communities, how to assess knowledge of the areas of interest in the target samples, and how to structure the contingent valuation task. After the focus groups were completed and the survey and methodology had been developed, the survey was sent to a translator to be translated into Spanish so that data could be collected from Spanish-speaking participants. Once completed, the Spanish version of the survey was translated back into English by a second translator to ensure that the two versions would be equivalent. After approval for this project was obtained from the Human Research Committee, the English version of the survey was administered to a group of 15 college undergraduates who were instructed to provide feedback on the clarity of the items and instructions, as well as how long it took them to complete. This was done to identify any serious problems with the survey instrument before it was taken out in the field to be piloted. Their feedback indicates that more verbal instructions need to be given to participants to make sure the participants understand the survey and the contingent valuation task more clearly.
Future Activities:
We will begin the pilot data collection on October 13, 2004, and will be completed by November 30, 2004. The survey instrument and method then will be revised as necessary and data collection will begin in January 2005. Data collection is expected to take approximately 4 months, through April 2005. Data entry and coding will take place in May 2005, and the data analysis will be conducted in June 2005.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 9 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
drinking water, water, watersheds, groundwater, exposure, risk, risk assessment, health effects, human health, vulnerability, sensitive populations, infants, children, susceptibility, chemicals, nitrogen oxides, nitrate, public policy, decisionmaking, conjoint analysis, contingent valuation, survey, psychological, willingness-to-pay, WTP, social psychology, environmental psychology, economics, Colorado, CO, Region 8,, Health, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, PHYSICAL ASPECTS, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, HUMAN HEALTH, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Economics & Decision Making, Physical Processes, Risk Assessments, Environmental Policy, Economics, Exposure, decision-making, Monitoring/Modeling, Children's Health, Social Science, Ecology and Ecosystems, dietary exposure, human exposue, conjoint analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis, multi-objective decision making, willingness to pay, ecological risk assessment, fish-borne toxicants, pesticides, water quality, non-market valuation, policy analysis, standards of value, human exposure, age-related differences, behavioral assessment, environmental risks, chemical exposure, PCB, population model, population based dose response model, theory of planned behavior, public policy, surveys, environmental stress, willingness to pay (WTP), decision analysis, market valuation models, ecological risk, contingent valuation, dose-response, human health risk, adult valuation of children's health, decision making, biomarkersRelevant Websites:
http://www.cahs.colostate.edu/fyi/ProgramsProjects/OtherProgramsEPA.htm Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.