schaffer_research_desigh_grid


 * Memo 6: Research Design Grid**
 * ~ **aims** ||~ **questions** ||~ **data collection** ||~ **emerging arguments** ||~ **literatures** ||
 * facilitate the development of a composting system that "works for Troy" (and maybe some other places) through attentive development of a community-run model || who benefits from this composting system? who doesn't?

will this community-run composting system continue to function for the next...year?

will a compost pile attract dangerous vermin? || work with groups in Troy setting up composting system. help write reports for group. facilitate meetings. turn compost pile. watch as efforts fail, succeed, etc. see what works. take notes on it all.

interviews with/surveys of people composting at pile, DPW personnel, neighbors of the pile.

continued conversations with other people involved in community-run compost systems. || a networked, community-managed system can provide residents with options for foodscraps disposal.

such a system might forge new community ties, encourage local food production, and provide a model for community governance (...by a small subset of the population) || participatory action research, social movements, participatory governance ||
 * generate new knowledge about changes in waste regimes in the US || what explains the changes in waste policy, EPA recommendations about waste, and disposal institutions in the last [decade]?

who has pushed for these changes? who has benefited from them? || find histories of composting institutions/policy?

discourse analysis of policy literature and EPA reports?

participant observation at (or, easier: interviews with) employees of //resource managment// institutions || large-scale municipal composting in the US has developed in a way that benefits corporations and municipalities over communities

probably || discard studies, ecological modernization ||
 * generate new knowledge about changes in waste regimes in Troy (that can be exported elsewhere) || what impact will current composting initiatives have on Troy's resource management?

what factors account for current initiatives and their success or failure?

how do you account for the impact of strong personalities in activism?

is the Troy case unusual? || monitor current efforts to change waste policy/institutions/practices in Troy: news, emails, meetings, interviews with those involved.

examine older efforts at waste management reform; interview project leaders and examine archival materials

interviews with organizers re: organizing methods. ||  || discard studies, social movements, ecological modernization ||
 * generate new knowledge about the framing of environmental problems || how do problems get framed as environmental problems?

how has the framing of waste problems in Troy/everywhere else influenced the management of waste?

how do publics, governments, private companies, etc negotiate the framing of/solutions to environmental problems? || discourse analysis of critiques of waste systems from multiple standpoints ||  || discourse analysis, sustainability studies ||