DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0p2ngf27r
title: Measuring social dimensions of sustainability at the community level: An illustrative but cautionary tale

description: Many communities are working to enhance the sustainability of their
 physical, economic, and social systems. While economic and physical
 systems are routinely measured (e.g., money, energy, greenhouse gas
 emissions), important psychological and behavioral elements of social
 systems (norms, attitudes, individual behavior) are seldom tracked. This
 research evaluated a potentially scalable approach to measuring the impact
 of local sustainability initiatives on these variables in a community
 engaged in a holistic effort to promote sustainability. Survey data were
 collected at two timepoints measuring pro-environmental thought and
 behavior in two small towns in Ohio: Oberlin, a community engaged in
 holistic efforts to enhance environmentally sustainable behavior; and
 Berea, a similar community used as a control. Despite verifiable changes
 in Oberlin due to sustainability programs and awareness of these programs,
 our survey results did not provide strong evidence that program efforts
 resulted in the desired changes in attitudes, norms and behaviors.
 Pro-environmental attitudes about recycling and installing LED bulbs were
 two exceptions. Conclusions: Assessing the psychological and behavioral
 dimensions of sustainability poses particular challenges. In our study, we
 encountered ceiling effects and inadequate statistical power. Possibly
 norms and attitudes are not easily influenced even by a holistic
 community-wide effort.
description: To evaluate the overall impact of a community-wide campaign to
 increase sustainability, we used an online survey in a 2 (Town) x 2 (Time)
 quasi-experiment. Our approach was designed to be a low cost
 (&lt;$2,000) partial turn-key resource. Survey data were collected at
 two time points measuring pro-environmental thought and behavior in two
 small towns in Ohio: Oberlin, a community engaged in holistic efforts to
 enhance environmentally sustainable behavior; and Berea, a similar
 community used as a control. The survey content was informed by theory and
 research from the fields of sociology, social psychology, and
 community-based social marketing. It was also shaped by the particular
 sustainability initiatives that were planned for implementation. We used
 previously used survey items wherever possible.
 Potential participants were randomly selected from a purchased
 mailing list. We intentionally oversampled in census tracts that were
 low-income and/or had higher percentages of people of color. This
 oversampling was designed to ensure that information from minority
 community members were represented sufficiently. Households received
 letters via the US postal service with a URL and an individualized code to
 be entered in the survey. This code allowed us to verify that only one
 response was received per household, and to allow us to send targeted
 reminders only to those who had not yet completed the survey. We used
 Qualtrics, an online survey platform, to minimize recruitment and printing
 costs (though print copies were available upon request).
 The data has been weighted for gender as there are a priori
 reasons to expect gender differences. We used 2010 census data to compute
 weights separately for each town and at each time period.
description: # Measuring social dimensions of sustainability at the community level: An
 illustrative but cautionary tale
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0p2ngf27r](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0p2ngf27r) To evaluate the overall impact of a community-wide campaign to increase sustainability, we used an online survey in a 2 (Town) x 2 (Time) quasi-experiment. Our approach was designed to be a low cost (&lt;$2,000) partial turn-key resource that other communities could use. Survey data were collected at two time points measuring pro-environmental thought and behavior in two small towns in Ohio: Oberlin, a community engaged in holistic efforts to enhance environmentally sustainable behavior; and Berea, a similar community used as a control. The survey content was informed by theory and research from the fields of sociology, social psychology, and community-based social marketing. It was also shaped by the particular sustainability initiatives that were planned for implementation. We used previously validated survey items wherever possible. The final survey included household-level questions on resource use (water, energy, recycling, etc.), individual-level measures designed to assess core social needs and social justice concerns; individual-level attitudes, efficacy and norm perceptions; and questions addressing specific community initiatives. The Time 1 survey was deployed in the summer of 2012; Time 2 was deployed four years later in the summer 2016. During the intervening period a variety of sustainability related initiatives were implemented in Oberlin. The Time 2 survey was largely identical to the T1 survey. A few questions were dropped because they were not relevant to the initiatives that were actually implemented. A few additional questions were added to assess awareness of the sustainability initiatives that occurred. At Time 1, the Small Town Survey contained 125 questions and took an average of 30 minutes to complete; at Time 2, the survey contained 90 questions and took 35 minutes to complete (the questions at Time 2 included some open-ended prompts that took more time to complete). Potential participants were randomly selected from a purchased mailing list. We intentionally oversampled in census tracts that were low-income and/or had higher percentages of people of color. This oversampling was designed to ensure that minority community members were represented sufficiently.  Households received letters via the US postal service with a URL and an individualized code to be entered in the survey. This code allowed us to verify that only one response was received per household, and to allow us to send targeted reminders only to those who had not yet completed the survey. We used Qualtrics, an online survey platform, to minimize recruitment and printing costs (though print copies were available upon request). The data file contains the gender weights that we determined using 2010 census data. We computed weights separately for each town and at each time period. Despite verifiable changes in Oberlin due to sustainability programs and awareness of these programs, our survey results did not provide strong evidence that program efforts resulted in the desired changes in attitudes, norms and behaviors. Pro-environmental attitudes about recycling and installing LED bulbs were two exceptions. ## Description of the data and file structure The data file was created in SPSS but exported to a CSV file to make it accessible to those without an SPSS license.  Data from Time 1 and Time 2 have been merged into a single data set, with each row corresponding to data collected from one individual. Missing data is indicated with a blank field.  Metadata detailing the meaning of each variable and value labels is available in the CSV file “MetadataforMeasuringSocialDimensionsofSustainability”.  A copy of the surveys used to collect data can be found in the file “SurveysforMeasuringSocialDimensionsofSustainability”.