Measurement approaches in climate action research

Abstract

Behavioral scientists across disciplines study the determinants of climate actions. They aim to describe, predict, explain, and change the behavioral properties (e.g. frequency, intensity, duration) of everyday resource consumption, climate-relevant investment decisions, or environmental activism behaviors. Accurate measurement of such properties is a critical prerequisite for a reliable science of climate actions. The present article reviews current measurement approaches while pointing to potential accuracy issues and ways to mitigate them. It illustrates the usefulness of observation-based measurement and argues that when relying on self-reports, researchers should take measures to ensure that participants’ self-observations can be accurate. In addition, behavioral paradigms are discussed as a means to study general principles underlying climate actions under experimentally controlled conditions. The review further distinguishes between the observation-based measurement of behavioral properties and the psychometric measurement of person properties and provides recommendations for the selection of measurement approaches contingent on researchers’ goals and interests.