Improving public surveys to better inform climate change policy decisions

In light of recent trends, scientists in Europe and North America are now thinking seriously about policy choices to address climate change, including geoengineering technologies, which were largely off the table just a few... [ view full abstract ]

In light of recent trends, scientists in Europe and North America are now thinking seriously about policy choices to address climate change, including geoengineering technologies, which were largely off the table just a few years ago. Results from interviews, deliberative small groups, and surveys have helped to inform decision makers about citizens' views. Yet when choices involve complex trade-offs, novel technologies, or difficult ethical questions it is challenging to provide large-scale public input that accurately reflects the assumptions, values, and knowledge that underlie people's choices. To help address this problem we report on the results of a new "decision pathway" survey method that incorporates recent behavioral and cognitive findings to capture much of the depth and reasoning of small-group deliberations while addressing survey goals of large sample engagement with stakeholders. Results from a pathways survey of climate change policy options (n=800) conducted in the U.S. demonstrates that individuals are able to follow a conversational format that sequentially asks about competing objectives, civic priorities, factual information, uncertainty in consequences, and key risk-benefit trade-offs. The results offer important insights about the nature of individual's conditional support for geoengineering alternatives and their context-specific reasoning strategies in light of both ethical and governance concerns. Pathway surveys may also yield important insights as part of other controversial policy choices.