Kevin Ash Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Hello SE region weather enthusiasts, My name is Kevin and I'm new to the American Weather forums. I'm originally from Oklahoma, but have lived in Florida and South Carolina during graduate school. I worked for Weathernews in Norman, OK for several years before returning to school. I am currently a PhD student in Geography at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. My research interests are in Hazards, Disasters and Risk Communication. My first post is an announcement of sorts, and also an ask for assistance from anyone on this forum who is from South Carolina or neighboring states. I am conducting dissertation research on tornado preparedness and sheltering strategies of manufactured home residents in South Carolina. The study is underway, but I am still in need of about 20 more participants. What are participants asked to do? Participants are asked to do one interview with me where we discuss several aspects of tornado preparedness and sheltering. The interview process is not a test of knowledge; rather, it is intended to understand a wide range of opinions and perspectives related to the act of taking shelter from a tornado. Interviews typically last 30-50 minutes and can be done via telephone, Skype (or similar video chat), or in-person. The results of the interviews will be anonymous; your personal information and opinions will not be made public. There will be a second interview/activity about 2-4 months after the first interview. In the second interview, participants will read opinion statements on index cards and sort them into piles based on how much they agree or disagree with the statements. The goal of this activity is to identify a few common perspectives that many manufactured home residents share about tornado sheltering. What do participants gain from doing the interviews? There is a small compensation of $25 at the conclusion of the second interview/activity. The compensation is limited to one participant per household. Funding for the study is provided by the National Science Foundation. What is being asked of readers of this forum? If you are reading this and you live in a manufactured home, I hope you will consider taking part in the study. If you read this and you have some family members, friends, or acquaintances who live in manufactured homes, I hope you will consider helping me to get in touch with them to see if they might take part in the study. I would like to complete the first round of interviews before the end of 2013, with the second round of interviews taking place in January, February and March. What is the best way to contact Kevin? If you would like to participate in the study, or if you know someone who might participate, please contact me via email at [email protected] or via phone at (405) 401-9779. Alternatively, you could send me a private message through the American Weather site. If you have questions or concerns about the study, please contact me and I will provide more detailed information. Thanks for your time and assistance, Kevin Ash PhD Candidate and Research Associate Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute Dept. of Geography, Univ. of South Carolina Email: [email protected] Phone: (405) 401-9779 http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculus1 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Hello SE region weather enthusiasts, My name is Kevin and I'm new to the American Weather forums. ... Hi, Kevin! Welcome to the board! Sorry I don't meet your requirements for your study. It sounds interesting. I guess your plan is a little safer than creating artificial tornadic environments on willing participants and then observing their actual reactions. (Though, it might provide for some entertaining scenarios.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Some small-town newspapers would probably happily publish a press release for you. Rural county newspapers (like Bamberg, Marion, Marlboro, Clarendon, etc) will publish just about anything and those are the places with the most mobile homes per capita. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ash Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 Some small-town newspapers would probably happily publish a press release for you. Rural county newspapers (like Bamberg, Marion, Marlboro, Clarendon, etc) will publish just about anything and those are the places with the most mobile homes per capita. Thanks for the suggestion and I will look into this. I especially need to recruit a few more participants in rural areas. So far, most participants have been in or near towns and cities. It's not feasible to walk door to door in rural areas, so maybe your idea could get some results. Hi, Kevin! Welcome to the board! Sorry I don't meet your requirements for your study. It sounds interesting. I guess your plan is a little safer than creating artificial tornadic environments on willing participants and then observing their actual reactions. (Though, it might provide for some entertaining scenarios.) Hello...thanks for your comments and I hope the study will produce useful results! I have thought about how to get a focus group together for a real severe weather situation and document what people are saying and how they are processing all the available information from multiple sources and types of media. There are many issues with such an idea, of course, first of all being safety! Maybe something can be worked out in the future. It would probably be most feasible during May or June and would stand a better chance of being successful somewhere like TX, OK, KS, NE, or IA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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