**3. Project methodology**

As discussed, the methodology employed in this project had two objectives. The first was to attempt to integrate geography, spatial analysis, environmental studies, and social psychology to better understand (and ideally help solve) conflicts over solar development in the Mojave desert region. The second was to empower students

#### *A Multi-Disciplinary Undergraduate Pedagogical Experience Looking at Attitudes… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101248*

with a deep-learning experience using multidisciplinary tools, and develop skills that they could carry into their academic and professional lives.

Throughout the course of the URAP, students met weekly with the Primary Investigator and other USC faculty associated with the project. Each student had a high degree of agency in developing their own goals and timelines based on their academic and professional interests. While a schedule was developed at the beginning of the academic year, the schedules were modified as the students' interests grew and developed.

#### **3.1 Spatial analysis**

Both students conducted spatial analysis to better understand the dynamics influencing solar development in the Mojave. Spatial analysis is the computation of geographic data to visualize and solve spatial questions and phenomenon. This required that students identify data sets, process and clean them, and learn how to use software to answer key research questions. For this project, both students used Esri ArcGIS. The 2019–2020 mapped the spatial overlap between biodiversity and electric substations, as well as other phenomenon. The 2020–2021 student mapped favorability towards residential and industrial-scale solar by zip code. These exercises enabled students to understand components of the broader landscape (location of alternative energy facilities, endangered/threatened species, climate, slope and aspect, etc.) as well as their connection with the attitudes of residents.

#### **3.2 Interviews**

Interviews are a means of gathering information that allows for in-depth responses to key research questions. This project recruited participants via various Mojave desert Facebook groups, including "Explorers of the Mojave Desert," "What's Really Happening in the Desert – Coachella Valley & Hi-Desert," NO Dollar General in Joshua Tree," "Victorville, Buy Sell, Trade, Advertise," "Twentynine palms buy/sell/trade/ advertise," "Coachella Valley Buy/Sell/Trade," "29 palms/Joshua tree/Yucca Valley-Yard Sales," "Joshua Tree's Totally Unofficial Tourism Bureau," "Henderson Nevada, (Buy, Sell or trade)," "What's really going on in 29 Palms," "Mysterious Mojave Desert and Southwest USA," "Save Red Rock Canyon," and "Friends of Joshua Tree." The 2019–2020 student conducted 8 interviews with stakeholders, each of which lasted approximately 30 minutes. One interview with a key stakeholder was conducted in February 2021. While the researchers offered a face-to-face opportunity for interviews, the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited travel to the regions. Interviews were conducted via phone and videoconferencing. Question items asked about attitudes towards solar development, proximity, local impacts, and climate change, as well as basic demographics.

#### **3.3 Survey**

The researchers developed and fielded a convenience survey, distributing it via the Facebook groups mentioned above, as well as the Mojave Desert Land Trust (MLDT) listserv. While this survey was not demographically representative, it provided a quick, expedient means of gathering information on the topic. The survey replicated many of the question items deployed by Carlisle [18] on public attitudes regarding large-scale solar, especially with respect to perceptions of appropriate proximity. The survey (*n =* 106) was fielded in 2020 between the months of November and December, and again in January 2021. Respondents' demographics are described in


#### *Pedagogy - Challenges, Recent Advances, New Perspectives, and Applications*

#### **Table 2.**

*Demographics of survey respondents (n = 106).*

**Table 2**. Because the full survey data wasn't fielded until late in the second year of the project, only basic descriptive statistics and simple correlations were analyzed and visualized.

#### **3.4 Field work**

As discussed in the introduction, field work can be a profound aspect of research. It enables a sense of deep learning that is harder to access within a classroom setting, and within the fields of geography, environmental studies, and spatial science, it is especially important. Objections to the field of spatial science often involve the "view from above", wherein analysts come to conclusions about a place without ever having spoken to people in the region, or experienced the landscape firsthand. Field research is an opportunity for active learning, where students and involved in inquiry and engaged in their learning process.

*A Multi-Disciplinary Undergraduate Pedagogical Experience Looking at Attitudes… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101248*

During the 2019–2020 school year, the URAP student participated in two visits to the field, both with a USC professor. The first trip, in January 2020, toured the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, one of the largest wind farms in California. The second trip, conducted with the same student but a different faculty member, occurred in February 2020. This involved a number of activities intended to expose the student to the broader landscape of the Mojave, including site visits to the Salton Sea, Bombay Beach, Joshua Tree National Park, art installations, and of course, solar farms. Originally, the researchers planned to interview residents face-to-face while in the field, but temporal and geographic constraints proved prohibitive.

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented the 2020–2021 URAP student from engaging in a field-based experience. The challenges of the pandemic for fieldwork are not unrecognized, and many researchers are reassessing a landscape in which there may never be a "return to normal" [19]. Thus, researchers must not rush to return to fieldwork in potentially risky situations, but rather develop new protocols to facilitate engagement without sacrificing safety. The 2020–2021 URAP student conducted phone interviews, reached out to community members virtually, and attempted to understand the landscape through other means.

#### **3.5 Student feedback**

At the conclusion of the project, both students responded to a series of openended questions regarding the project. These covered skills gained, their experience with fieldwork, multi-methodological research, and the impact of the project on their academic and professional trajectories.

#### **4. Discussion: key findings**

#### **4.1 Attitudinal research**

As previously stated, the survey (*n* = 106) was a convenience sample distributed via various Facebook pages (see list in "Interviews" section). The results of this survey should be interpreted as suggestive.

The demographics of this survey are not representative of the U.S. population, but they are suggestive with respect to the demographic composition of the Mojave desert region. For one, many of the respondents skewed older than the general population. This may be due to a combination of the high population of individuals who retire to the region, as well as the tendency of retirees to have more free time and thus engage in volunteer work and as other advocacy issues. Racially, the vast majority of respondents identified as Caucasian, and notably under-represented are people of color. The sample was highly educated, with 65% being college educated or more. With respect to county of residence, San Bernardino residents comprised nearly half the sample. Given the overlap between the Mojave desert region and San Bernardino county, this is understandable.

#### *4.1.1 Survey findings*

The survey was analyzed with respect to basic descriptive statistics, as well as the degree to which there were inter-item correlations. There were a number of suggestive correlations between question items. Supporters of solar are consistent with respect to the ways in which they would accept solar development in close proximity to their residence because of the jobs and general benefit would bring to the area. Further, there appears to be a second set of related attitudes regarding the siting of solar away from different factors deemed as valuable, such as wetlands, wildlife habitat, wildlife migration routes, and recreation areas (**Table 3**).

## **4.2 Mapping and spatial analysis**

Both students conducted spatial analysis using a number of data sets. The 2019–2020 student used spatial analysis to develop a number of illustrative maps for a publicly available story map, including the relationship between alternative energy installations and wildlife habitat, for example (See **Figures 1** and **2**).

The 2020–2021 student used the survey data to create an index of support for solar, both residential and industrial. They went on to map the data by zip code and visualize the results via an Esri ArcGIS map. In general, the map demonstrated the way in which pro-solar attitudes are clustered in urban areas, far away from where the industrial scale installations are located (**Figure 3**).
