516
C. J. Li et al.
included five questions and a standard survey developed by National Issues Forums
Institute (2015). The first four questions are open-ended on feeling, action, perceptions, and recommendation for the forum. The fifth question is the same set of 10
items on hope concerning climate change. We hypothesized the forum will increase
participants’ sense of hope significantly. The standard survey asked participants to
rate from strongly disagree (1) strongly agree (5) on a set of policy suggestions (6
items), actions (9 items), and demographic questions (6 items).
3.3.2 Survey for Youth Forum
The survey for youth participants include 5 question from from American Teens’
Knowledge on Climate Change (Leiserowitz et al. 2011) to measure the teens’ prior
knowledge about climate change the causes and consequences of climate change and
the Climate Choices Participant Questionnaire (National Issues Forums 2016).
3.4 Data Analysis
For analyzing quantitative data, we used the descriptive and inferential statistics. We
used the IBM SPSS version 24 to conduct the statistical analysis. We used percentage,
mean, standard deviation, and dependent t-tests for comparing pre- and post-means
on hope scores. We used a p-value of less than 0.05 for statistical significance. For
analyzing qualitative data, we followed the steps suggested by Creswell (2007).
4 Results
4.1 Participants
Study site 1 served as pilot test study. Daniel Boone Library System delivered the invitation of climate change forums through their newsletter called About Your Library
(n = 12,000). In total, we have recruited 27 adult participants in spring at study
site 1 (Columbia Public Library), 11 youth participants by using Climate Choices in
summer at study site 2 (University of Missouri campus), and 21 adult participants
in fall 2017 at study site 3 (Calvary Episcopal Church). We administered the American Teens’ Knowledge on Climate Change (Leiserowitz et al. 2011) to the youth
group. In general, the majority of the participants believed that climate is changing
and is mostly due to human causes. These groups had higher knowledge score than
the national average, likely because these students applied to and were participating in an ecosystem conservation program. At study site 2, about 90% of the youth
participants believed that climate change is happening. About 63% of them believe
C. J. Li et al.
included five questions and a standard survey developed by National Issues Forums
Institute (2015). The first four questions are open-ended on feeling, action, perceptions, and recommendation for the forum. The fifth question is the same set of 10
items on hope concerning climate change. We hypothesized the forum will increase
participants’ sense of hope significantly. The standard survey asked participants to
rate from strongly disagree (1) strongly agree (5) on a set of policy suggestions (6
items), actions (9 items), and demographic questions (6 items).
3.3.2 Survey for Youth Forum
The survey for youth participants include 5 question from from American Teens’
Knowledge on Climate Change (Leiserowitz et al. 2011) to measure the teens’ prior
knowledge about climate change the causes and consequences of climate change and
the Climate Choices Participant Questionnaire (National Issues Forums 2016).
3.4 Data Analysis
For analyzing quantitative data, we used the descriptive and inferential statistics. We
used the IBM SPSS version 24 to conduct the statistical analysis. We used percentage,
mean, standard deviation, and dependent t-tests for comparing pre- and post-means
on hope scores. We used a p-value of less than 0.05 for statistical significance. For
analyzing qualitative data, we followed the steps suggested by Creswell (2007).
4 Results
4.1 Participants
Study site 1 served as pilot test study. Daniel Boone Library System delivered the invitation of climate change forums through their newsletter called About Your Library
(n = 12,000). In total, we have recruited 27 adult participants in spring at study
site 1 (Columbia Public Library), 11 youth participants by using Climate Choices in
summer at study site 2 (University of Missouri campus), and 21 adult participants
in fall 2017 at study site 3 (Calvary Episcopal Church). We administered the American Teens’ Knowledge on Climate Change (Leiserowitz et al. 2011) to the youth
group. In general, the majority of the participants believed that climate is changing
and is mostly due to human causes. These groups had higher knowledge score than
the national average, likely because these students applied to and were participating in an ecosystem conservation program. At study site 2, about 90% of the youth
participants believed that climate change is happening. About 63% of them believe