Example 10: Student work

Gender Analysis On The California Drought

Word count: 2215 (2317 - 98 words from titles, pie charts, and works cited)

Research Question:
To what extent does gender play a role on one's views of the California drought and their
willingness to conserve water?

Environmental Issue:
The California Drought and one's attitude on it
The state of California has been in a drought for several years and there is some debate on how
long California has been in a drought. Some argue California has been in a drought for close to
five years, while others argue it has been around ten years. California's governor, Jerry Brown,
declared California to be in a drought state of emergency on January 17, 2014.

Local Connections:
The environmental issue of the California drought is controversial as to how long California has
been in a drought and if it's still in a drought, due to recent rainfall. I wanted to see if the gender
of people in California plays a role in one's views on the California drought and if one gender
does more to help conserve water. From my perspective of what I've seen, it appears that
females tend to care more about the California Drought and believe it's been going on longer
than what males believe. This is just an observation I have made, so I wanted to see to what
extent this hypothesis is true.

Environmental systems and societies 1

 Example 10: Student work

Method

The method chosen was an online multiple choice survey sent out to sixty people (ranged from
teenagers to elders) with the following questions:
1. On average, how long are your showers?
2. Do you consider California to be in a drought?
3. Do you leave the water on when you brush your teeth?
4. Do you leave your sprinklers on after it rains?
5. Do you use excess water to water your plants or use it for a pet?
6. Do you have any knowledge on the California Drought?
7. How long do you think California has been in a drought?
8. Is the California Drought a serious issue?
9. Is it important to conserve water for future generations?
10. Are you male or female?

Variables:
Experimental Name of Variable:
Variable:

Independent Variable Gender

Dependent Variable View on California Drought

Controlled Variables 1. Number of males and females surveyed (40 total- 20

males and 20 females)
2. Age range (teenagers, young adults, adults, and the
elderly)

Materials:
• Internet connection
• Google docs online survey

Environmental systems and societies 2

 Example 10: Student work

Sampling Strategy
A survey was selected because it's an easy way to get data from people. Also, an even amount
of males and females were chosen to ensure an even generalizability so there isn't a gender
bias. There was a variety in the age range to try to ensure the thoughts of several age groups,
so there isn't just the opinions from one specific age group, to help create a higher
generalizability. People of different ages may have different opinions on the California drought,
due to how it effects them and if they have to pay for water or not.

Ethics and Risks

Safety: There are no safety concerns because the method of choice isn't an experiment. The
method was a survey, so there aren't any safety concerns with answering the questions.
Confidentiality: The surveys sent out were anonymous, so no names were ever collected, hence
upholding confidentiality.
Deception: There was no use of deception. Participants were told what the survey is, what the
survey is being used for, and that they do not have to take the survey if they do not want to.
Risks: A possible risk to the survey is that the participants who took the survey may not have
been honest with their answers.

Environmental systems and societies 3

 Example 10: Student work

Results and Data Presentation

Questions from survey:
On average, how long are 1-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 More than 20 Other
your showers? minutes minutes minutes minutes minutes

Female Responses 0 7 10 3 0 0

Male Responses 3 10 4 3 0 0

Do you consider California to be in a drought? Yes No Kind of Other

Female Responses 12 2 5 1

Male Responses 5 5 10 0

Do you leave the water on when you brush your teeth? No Yes Sometimes Other

Female Responses 17 1 1 1

Male Responses 17 0 3 0

Do you leave your sprinklers on Yes No Sometimes I don't Other

after it rains? know
Female Responses 0 19 0 1 0

Male Responses 0 14 2 3 1

Do you use excess water to water your Yes No Sometimes Other

plants or use it for a pet?
Female Responses 9 7 4 0

Male Responses 8 3 9 0

Environmental systems and societies 4

 Example 10: Student work

Do you have any A lot A Some Not None at all Other

knowledge of the decent much
California Drought? amount
Female Responses 1 4 10 5 0 0

Male Responses 1 8 8 3 0 0

How long do you It has 1-3 3-5 5-10 More than Other
think California has never years years years 10 years
been in a drought? been in a
drought
Female Responses 0 2 6 10 2 0

Male Responses 1 2 11 4 2 2

Is the California Drought a Yes Kind of It not a Not at all Other

serious issue? definitely problem
anymore
Female Responses 16 4 0 0 0

Male Responses 13 3 8 1 0

Is it important to conserve water for future generations? Yes Kid of No

definitely
Female Responses 19 0 1

Male Responses 18 1 1

Are you make or female Male Female

20 20

Environmental systems and societies 5

 Example 10: Student work

Percentages:

Are you male or female?

On average, how long are your showers?

Do you consider California to be in a drought?

Environmental systems and societies 6

 Example 10: Student work

Do you leave the water on when you brush your teeth?

Do you leave your sprinklers on after it rains?

Do you use excess water to water your plants or use it for a pet?

Environmental systems and societies 7

 Example 10: Student work

Do you have any knowledge of the California Drought?

How long do you think California has been in a drought?

Is the California Drought a serious issue?

Environmental systems and societies 8

 Example 10: Student work

Is it important to conserve water for future generations?

Analysis
Percentages: (Value/total value)x100
Percentages were used to analyze how gender plays a role on one's views on the drought and
their willingness to conserve water. To calculate the percentages seen in the graphs above,
the answers from each gender were divided by the total number of people from that gender.
1. Are you male or female?
Out of 40 participants, 20 answered as female: (20/40)x100) = 50%
Out of 40 participants, 20 answered as male: (20/40)x100) = 50%

2. On average, how long are your showers?

Females:
Out of 20 females:
(7/20)x100= 35%, (3/20)x100= 15%, (10/20)x100= 50%, (0/20)x100= 0%, (0/20)x I 00= 0%,
(0/20)x100= 0%

Environmental systems and societies 9

 Example 10: Student work

Males:
Out of 20 males:
(3/20)x100= 15%, (10/20)x100= 50%, (4/20)x100= 20%, (3/20)x100= 15%, (0/20)x100= 0%,
(0/20)x100= 0%

3. Do you consider California to be in a drought?

Females:
Out of 20 females:
(12/20)x100= 60%. (2/20)x100= 10%, (5/20)x100= 25%, (1/20)x100= 5%
Males:
Out of 20 males:
(5/20)x100=25%, (5/20)x100= 25%, (10/20)x100= 50%, (0/20)x100= 0%

4. Do you leave the water on when you brush your teeth?

Females:
Out of 19 females (one female didn't answer this question)
(17/19)x100= 90%, (1/19)x100= 5%, (1/19)x100= 5%, (0/19)x&100= 0%
Males:
Out of 20 males:
(17/20)x100= 85%, (0/20)x100= 0%, (3/20)x100= 15%, (0/20)x100= 0%

Environmental systems and societies 10

 Example 10: Student work

5. Do you leave your sprinklers on after it rains?

Females:
Out of 20 females:
(0/20)x100= 0%, (19/20)x100= 95%, (0/20)x100= 0%, (1/20)x100= 5%, (0/20)x100= 0%
Males:
Out of 20 males:
(0/20)x10 = 0%, (14/20)x100= 70%, (2/20)x100= 10%, (3/20)x100= 15%, (1/10)x100= 5%

6. Do you use excess water to water your plants or use it for a pet?
Females:
Out of 20 females:
(9/20)x10= 45%, (7/20)x100= 35%, (4/20)x100= 20%, (0/20)x100= 0%
Males:
Out of 20 males:
(8/20)x100= 40%, (3/20)x100= 15%, (9/20)x10 = 45%, (0/20)x100= 0%

7. Do you have any knowledge on the California Drought?

Females:
Out of 20 females:
(1/10)x100= 5%, (4/20)x100= 20%, (10/20)x10 = 50%, (5/20)x100= 25%, (0/20)x100= 0%,
(0/20)x100= 0%
Males:
Out of 20 males:
(1/10)x100 = 5%, (8/20)x100= 40%, (8/20)x100= 40%, (3/20)x100= 15%,

Environmental systems and societies 11

 Example 10: Student work

8. How long do you think California has been in a drought?

Females:
Out of 20 females:
(0/20)x100= 0%, (2/20)x100= 10%, (6/20)x100= 30%, (10/20)x100= 50%, (2/20)x100= 10%,
(0/20)x10 = 0%
Males:
Out of 20 males:
(1/10)x100= 5%, (2/20)x100= 10%, (11/20)x100= 55%, (4/20)x100= 20%, (2/20x100 = 10%,
(2/20)x100= 10%

9. Is the California drought a serious issue?

Females:
Out of 20 females:
(16/20)x100= 80%, (4/20)x100 = 20%, (0/20)x100= 0%, (0/20)x100= 0%, (0/20)x100= 0%
Males:
Out of 20 males:
(13/20)x100= 65%, (3/20)x100= 15%, (8/20)x100= 40%, (1/10)x100= 5%, (0/20)x100= 0%

10. Is it important to conserve water for future generations?

Females:
Out of 20 females:
(19/20)x100= 95%, (0/20)x100= 0%, (1/10)x100= 5%

Environmental systems and societies 12

 Example 10: Student work

Males:
Out of 20 males:
(18/20)x100= 90%, (1/10)x100= 5%, (1/10)x100= 5%

Conclusion
Based on the data, it appears that females care a little more about the California Drought and
try to conserve more water than males. A possible reason for this may be because females
typically have higher levels of oestrogen, which affects emotion. 'This fact may cause females
to be more emotionally invested in environmental issues and give off the impression that they
care more about the drought. However, according to the data, females generally take longer
showers than males, so in this instance, females aren't as likely to conserve water. It's
debatable that females take longer showers than males, not because they don't care to
conserve more water, but because with most females they have more to do in the shower
than males, which takes more time.

Discussion
Based on the conclusions from the data, it can be stated that females care a little more about
the drought and are more willing to conserve water than males. However, some people may
not have answered questions truthfully because they could've felt like it was expected to care
about it. It appears females care more about the drought than males, so this conclusion can
be related to other environmental issues or the environment as a whole and could be inferred
that females may possibly care more about the environment than males do and other
environmental issues. This conclusion could be further tested to see if females are more
ecocentric than males and the sample could be on a larger scale using people from different

Environmental systems and societies 13

 Example 10: Student work

countries. It could also be further tested to see if hormone play a role if females' attitudes
towards the environment, due to the fact that oestrogen plays a role in emotion.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Limitations

An online survey is a good method because it's an easy way to get many participants because
it's quick, easy, and anonymous. Also, surveys are easy to get the data needed for this
question. A strength to the sample size is that there were an even amount of females and an
even amount of males who took the survey. This helps the validity of the findings because
there isn't a gender bias so there is a higher generalizability in the findings because there is an
even amount of males and females who took the survey. Also, the survey was sent out to
people of different ages to ensure there isn't an age bias. Furthermore, there is a strength to
the sample size because all the participants who took the survey are from California, so their
knowledge on the California Drought and their willingness to conserve water directly affects. A
weakness to this method is there is a great amount of trust involved in the participants
because there is no way of ensuring that they are answering each question honestly. Also,
because the survey was anonymous, they may have felt they could try to manipulate the data
by not honestly answering the questions because there is no way of knowing who answered
the survey.

Modifications
Some possible modifications to the method could be to send the survey to more people. Only
forty participants took the survey, so the outcome of the survey may not be the most reliable

Environmental systems and societies 14

 Example 10: Student work

because it only gets the opinions and responses from a very little percent of California's
population. Also, the majority of people who took the survey are from southern California,
which was affected more by the California drought than areas in northern California, so this
could potentially have affected the views of each participant. To improve this, one could get
an even number of participants from both southern and northern California.

Solution
A possible solution to get more Californians to conserve more water and to view the drought
as a problem that shouldn't be taken lightly to help continue the progress California has been
making is to teach about what a drought is and its effects in schools. Teaching more about
droughts in school can help the younger generation understand how serious droughts can be
and easily teach ways to help conserve water such as turning off the water when brushing
your teeth. This small change could potentially greatly help California keep on the track of
getting out of the drought and preventing future droughts.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Limitations

A weakness to this solution of teaching about droughts in schools is that it will mostly only be
taught to younger people such as children and teenagers. This solution mostly doesn't help
older generations and their knowledge on droughts. A strength to this solution is that if
younger people are more aware of droughts and the effects it has on the environment, it can
help the future generations because as they grow older, their knowledge on droughts will be
passed down. Although there is a limitation to this solution, the strengths outweigh the
weaknesses because it will cause some kind of greater awareness and knowledge on droughts,
even if it's only from a certain group of people, it still has the potential to greatly help the
environment.

Environmental systems and societies 15

 Example 10: Student work

Works Cited
E. (2012, January 22). The influence of estrogen on female mood changes. Retrieved March
20, 2017, from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/sicp-tio010912.php

U.S. Geological Survey California Water Science Center. (n.d.). California Drought. Retrieved
March 20, 2017, from https://ca.water.usgs.gov/data/drought/

Environmental systems and societies 16