Using an Inductive Grounded Theory Approach to Understand How Screening Tools and Case Studies Assess Environmental Injustices in Communities in the United States

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2021

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Communities of color and low-income communities in the United States are disproportionately overburdened with environmental burdens while having reduced access to environmental amenities and other environmental services. The collective term for this experience is environmental injustice. Case studies and screening tools are two common methods of assessing environmental injustices at the community level. There have been comprehensive analyses of both screening tools and case studies, but there has been little comparative work on how screens and case studies capture environmental injustices. Through the use of an inductive grounded theory approach, 24 case studies and eight screens were reviewed and coded using MAXQDA to identify a total of 38 themes. Additionally, eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with a variety of stakeholder groups to identify additional themes that may not have been present in either screens or case studies. Race, socioeconomic status, environmental impacts and degradation, land use-physical hazards and reduced health outcomes were the most commonly identified themes in both screens and case studies. Case studies addressed a larger proportion of the identified themes, but these themes were unevenly distributed. By completing a comparative analysis of how environmental injustices are captured by case studies and screening tools, this thesis seeks to highlight potential weaknesses that limit the capability of these methods to effectively assess and reflect the environmental justice concerns held by community members.

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