Environmental Value Systems at UWC Changshu Survey Report

Olivia, Marius & Sara
ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
PAPER ON SURVEY RESEARCH
Environmental value systems at UWC

Changshu

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
Table of contents
Purpose...............................................................................................................2
Theory.................................................................................................................3
Equipment...........................................................................................................3
Procedure............................................................................................................4
Results & Data processing...................................................................................4
Possible errors and uncertainties......................................................................10
There are a number of possible errors and uncertainties, those being listed
here:..................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.........................................................................................................10
Appendix 1........................................................................................................11

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
Purpose
The purpose of conducting this survey has been to get a general idea of both
students and faculties view on environmental issues at UWC Changshu China.
It attempts to place them within one of the three environmental value systems
that together cover a much broader and more fluent spectrum of different
ideologies, ideas and perceptions. Opinions on sustainable lifestyles both
before and during the stay at UWC schools have been collected, along with
general information about the movements impact on the actions of individuals
at the school. The survey also addresses the question whether natural
catastrophes in respective home countries have changed the individual
residents perceptions and views on climate change as an environmental issue.
Theory
The three main environmental value systems that are used commonly, but are
also addressed in this particular research are ecocentrism, anthropocentrism
and technocentrism. The spectrum of ideologies is, in practice, much more
fluent, and all three value systems have common- and middle grounds that are
not a part of the survey. The survey seeks to make a distinction between
members of UWC Changshu China who sympathize with the three value
systems.

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
Equipment
The platform used to conduct and collect answers for the survey is the free,
online program that www.surveymonkey.com offers for personal research.
Procedure
After the purpose of the survey had been stated and appropriate questions had
been formulated it was all put into the online generator and a publicly
accessible survey was created. The web link was emailed to all students and
faculty at UWC Changshu China and 105 responses were collected and
analyzed.
Results & Data processing

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
Based on the data above, we can see that majority of the students agree to
some extend that taking care of the environment should be our first priority
with a percentage of 52.04%. A small percentage of students disagreed to
some extend and 9.18% students and faculties are neutral about the
statement. This shows that majority of the students and faculty are ecocentric
and are concerned about the environment. Next, majority of the students
agreed to some extend that we as humans are entitled to use the earths
resources with a percentage of 47.42%. However, there is a small percentage
(4.12%) of students and faculties that strongly disagree to this statement.
Regarding the third statement, majority of the students and faculties (56.84%)
agree to some extend that the development of technology can provide
solutions to the environmental problems caused by us , humans. A number of
students and faculties however, strongly agree that the development of
technology can solve environmental problems caused by humans with a

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
percentage of 15.79% . More interestingly, 7.35% and 1.05% of students and

faculties disagree to some extend and strongly disagree to it. This shows that
some students believe that technology is not able to provide solutions to the
environmental problems that we are facing today, as technology might create
more environmental problems. Overall, this survey shows that majority of the
students are aware about how taking care of the environment should be our
first priority and how we as humans are entitled to use the earths resources
but to a certain extend.

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
Analysing the above table and the graph that is attached we can observe that
the majority of faculty and students were concerned about the environment
before coming to UWC, a small percentage wasnt concerned about the
environment and 17.53% were not able to answer with a Yes or No answer. This
proves that the majority is aware of the environmental problems that exist and

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
coming to UWC is not a huge factor in terms of awareness towards the

environment, because as we can see in Table C there is only a 8.03% increase
regarding people becoming more concerned after coming to UWC. Regarding
volunteer that is aimed towards helping the environment there is also a
majority, 57.73%, although the percentage is lower than on the first question
(70.1%) this is explicable through the fact that volunteer work requires time,
dedication and also its not paid. It would be naturally that the number of
people that would volunteer wouldnt be as high as number of those who are
concerned with the environment. Trying to live a sustainable life can be a great
challenge and requires a lot of will, this would be the reason why its the only
category in which the percentage is below 50%. The good thing is that we can
see an improvement in this category in Table C when the participants were
asked if they started to live a more sustainable life after coming to UWC. This
could have happened because of the fact that here everybody is urged a more
sustainable life and the fact the people around you are trying to do same thing
helps a lot.

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
Based on the graph above, we can clearly see that the most important factor
for a developing country is the educational system. This is because with a
proper educational system, the country is able to educate have well informed
citizens who are concerned about the environment. Through education, we are
able to spread awareness and to teach the future generation on how to
conserve and preserve the environment for a better and brighter future. Other
than that, a country with a good educational system is able to produce critical
thinking citizens that are able to solve environmental issues through
technology or through sustainable activities. This survey shows that UWC
students are aware that education is the best factor for a developing country as
it provides knowledge and educates the citizens of a country for a more
sustainable future.

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
As we can see in the table and the graph attached to it, the majority of
students and staff have become more aware and concerned with the
environment after coming to UWC. Most probably this is because of the values
that are promoted at UWC China. Even though there are people that didnt
change their opinion regarding the environment they are a minority. Only
16.67% have not become more aware and 18.56% who have not become more
concerned with the environment in comparison to 78,13% who became more
aware of environmental issues and 71.13% who became more concerned with
the environment. As well we can see an increase in terms of living a
sustainable life. If compared to Table B we can see an increase of 10.01% in
terms of how sustainable is students or facultys life after coming to UWC. In
time the increase might grow as this survey was conducted early in the school
year when new faculty and students still have to go through periods of
accommodation.
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September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
11

ESS
September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
As it is shown in the table and the graph attached to it we can see that the
majority of the respondents had a natural disaster in their home country within
the last 10 years. Only 35.11% percent of them responded with a yes when
they were asked if the natural disaster happened because of the global
warming. The majority answered that it had nothing to do with global warming.
The answers might not be very accurate because sometimes natural disasters
dont have a direct a connection with global warming, there might be factors
such as the melting of icebergs that are directly connected to global warming
that can produce such disasters as floods or other factors that might have a
direct connection. As a result of people not knowing the root of the problem we
can see that not many have changed their views regarding the protection of
the environment after being part of a natural disaster.
Possible errors and uncertainties

There are a number of possible errors and uncertainties, those being listed
here:
False answers
misinterpretation of questions
misinterpretation of data
Errors regarding analyzing data
Small amount of responses
Conclusion
Being at UWC Changshu China has made people more aware of environmental
issues and some live in more sustainable ways at the school than in their
respective homes. Some put their faith in technology to help solve
environmental issues, but many are ecocentric to an extend and think that
human are not entirely entitled to exploit all the resources on earth.
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September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
Appendix 1
The survey
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September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
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September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
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September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
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September 18th 2016
UWC Changshu
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Olivia, Marius & Sara

PAPER ON SURVEY RESEARCH