With the increasing number of minorities in western countries, there has been some debate about whether minorities are concerned about taking care of the environment. Past research has compared minorities with Caucasians to see if there were differing views about the environment and if one group was taking more of an active stance. Research done by Johnson, Bowker and Cordell (2004) used the new ecological paradigm scale (NEP) to measure the variation in environmental beliefs amongst ethnic groups. The scale considered factors such as, environmental reading, household recycling, environmental group joining and participation in nature-based outdoor recreation. Their data showed that Caucasians were the most concerned about the environment. They were more prone to recycle regularly and join more environmentalist groups. It showed that African Americans and Hispanic immigrants were the least concerned. Thus, they were not as involved in environmental causes nor did they recycle as much. Also, the study suggested that Asian Americans …show more content…
Thus, we could not see how other groups of minorities compare to Caucasians, which can invalidate our study because certain minority groups could have recycled more than Caucasians. Also, some individuals may be ethnically ambiguous and may be placed into the wrong group, which can affect the validity of the data collected. In order to avoid this we will record the data from individuals whose ethnicity we are most capable of identifying and thus can more obviously fit into one of the groups. Most of the waste bins on campus are sectioned. There are portions of the bin for garbage, papers, containers and paper coffee cups. When the participant goes to dispose their trash they might block our view. Thus, we may not be able to tell if they are recycling. To avoid this each observer will be recording data from different angles near the waste