RESEARCH INTERESTS
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL POLICY; CLIMATE CHANGE; SUSTAINABILITY; PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE; ISSUE FRAMING; SOCIAL IDENTITY
Dissertation OVERVIEW
To Believe or Not to Believe? The Impact of Political Communication on the Beliefs of Climate Change Skeptics in the United States
Despite considerable evidence that climate change is occurring and will have severe consequences, many Americans remain skeptical and are impeding efforts to address the problem. The purpose of my dissertation research is to explore the extent to which political communication affects perceptions of climate change among climate skeptics. The research consists of three interrelated studies that jointly that jointly build an understanding of the determinants of climate change perceptions (i.e., belief that climate change is occurring, belief that climate change is anthropogenic; perceived risk of personal harm by climate change; and, support for climate policy measures). The first analysis is a descriptive and qualitative analysis that provides a profile of the average climate skeptic and a bird’s eye view of the factors that might contribute to skepticism. The second analysis is a survey experiment that examines extent to which message framing affects climate skeptics’ beliefs. Finally, the third analysis is a survey experiment that focuses on the effect of the identity of the person sharing information about climate change on climate skeptics’ beliefs. The aim of these studies is to help public leaders and government officials to tailor their messages to more effectively educate the public.
SKILLS
Mixed methods research; NVivo; Stata; Qualtrics; LUCID; survey design; survey implementation; data analysis; policy recommendations
REFEREED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
Raadschelders, J.C., Larrison, J., & Thapar, A.V. (2019). Refugee Migration as a “Wicked Problem”: American Controlling, Palliative, and Governance Policies in Global Context. World Affairs, 182(3), 228-255.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Thapar, A.V. (2018, April). The Demographic Divide: The Impact of Severe Climate Events on Perceptions of Climate Change Across Income Groups. Paper presented at the annual conference of Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
MANUSCRIPTS IN PROGRESS
Davis, J., DiTomasso, A., Glickman, A., Krzyzanowski Guerra, K., Landsbergen, D., Leach, N., Ma, Y., Poland, K., Scott, C., Smith, R., & Thapar, A.V.* (2021). Building Theories of Racial Justice in Public Administration. Target journal: JPART
*equal contributions by all authors
Thapar, A.V. The Impact of Political Party Affiliation on Receptivity to Messages about Climate Change.
Thapar, A.V. The Impact of Outcome Framing on Individual Receptivity to Risks of Climate Change.
Thapar, A.V. The Demographic Divide: Severe Climate Events and Individual Perceptions of Climate Change.
Thapar, A.V. Sustainability Reporting: A Neo-Institutionalism Approach to Social Responsibility.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Rao, M.P., Thapar, A.V., Sweeney, A. & Li, X. (2013). Hydroclimatology of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar: A study of the causes and impacts of a changing climate on food, energy, and water security issues in Myanmar. (White Paper for the World Bank)
Thapar, A.V. (2012). The Maldives, A Sinking Paradise: A study of the impacts of a changing climate and the role of policy in a former least developed country.
Martinez, S., Newman, L.C. & Thapar, A.V. (2012). Crop Optimisation in Peru: A Decision Model to help Peruvian coastal and inland farmers divide their land among three crops to ensure high yield and profitability during different ENSO forecast seasons.
Thapar, A.V. (2011). The Continuing Battle to Save the Aral Sea: Water scarcity, conflict, and management.
Thapar, A.V. (2010). The Effect of Simulating Climate Change on Algae Colonisation in Ephemeral Pools.
Luneack, M., Pearce, E. & Thapar, A.V. (2010). Drill Baby, Drill? The ethics, dangers, and future of hydraulic fracking in the Adirondack Mountains.
Thapar, A.V., Feng, A. & Mallare, K. (2010) Examining whether Myrmeleontidae body size, sand moisture and sand particle size play a role in determining Myrmeleontidae pit dimensions and the time taken to build a pit.