Throughout my first year, my team and I were able to gather data about young adults’ motivation and attitude levels towards working with water conservation. We were able to get this data by surveying and interviewing young adults ages eighteen through twenty-five at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. To further evolve our project this year, we are focusing more on implementing an action plan. For my personal project this semester towards our overall reseach I plan to create a survey to send to all the young adults, specifically freshman who participated in cougars in the community this year with our community partners Heartlands. My goal with this survey is to see what can make this type of actions CONSISTENT for young adults and what did they liked or disliked about their experience. This will help me to come up with an action plan and helpme better understand the mindset of young adults towards topics like this .
- I want to know more about what’s holding the young adults back
- What would be the most effective approach or event to get them out of water conservation
- I wonder if the young adults feel like they are not able to do anything due to their status
- How can water conservation feel more like a team effort instead of just one young adult at a time
- How can Heartlands involve us more in their mission
- Are there time constraints due to academic or social commitments?
- Do they feel like their individual contributions are too small to matter
- Are they just unaware of the importance of water-related issues?
Understanding the barriers young adults face is important. My survey should include questions that directly address what’s holding them back.
Some obstacles that I am perceiving related to the work I plan to do are that I can conduct surveys, find data, and organize events, but how do I make it consistent? Consistency is my main goal within my research. I feel like recognition in some form will help with this. Would they respond better to tangible rewards, like community service hours or small scholarships, or to more inherent motivators, such as public recognition or the chance to develop leadership skills? To let them know we appreciate the things they will be doing. Dr.Despain mentioned taking a psychological approach towards my survey.
I can also consider what types of events or approaches would resonate most with young adults, such as interactive and engaging activities. Hosting a friendly competition between different dorms or student organizations to see who can reduce their water consumption the most? Collaborating with local businesses to offer discounts to students who participate in water conservation efforts could also be a great way to increase involvement within the age range because we are all college students trying to save money and the earth. Also, telling them to fix actions within their daily life can help. As a collective to take shorter showers and more could help tremendously.