Practical Action Research into the Sense of Community That Develops Among a Multi-Stakeholder Team Seeking to Address Energy-Burdened Neighborhoods

Date of Award

5-5-2024

Degree Name

Ed.D. in Leadership for Organizations

Department

Department of Educational Administration

Advisor/Chair

Clare Liddon

Abstract

The research undertaken was a qualitative grounded action research case study. The researcher had the opportunity to work as part of a team seeking to alleviate energy-burdened neighborhoods within a southeastern State. The team was formed from members of the city, county, the federal government, and local not-for-profit organizations. The research questions were twofold. First, what were the project team members’ initial individual approaches to achieving the project’s goals of clean energy, addressing energy burdens, and community resiliency? Second, how do the team members reach a consensus over time toward achieving the project’s goals? As part of the consensus building, how much of a sense of community is developed amongst the members of the team? The theoretical framework that this research was performed under was a sense of community comprised of four elements: membership, influence, reinforcement, and shared emotional connection (McMillan & Chavis, 1986). A literature review was conducted to identify initial themes that were further developed through focus groups and interviews. Two focus groups were held that involved a total of three unique members of the team per focus group who were asked the same semi-structured questions. As a follow-up to the focus groups, four participants were asked to participate in one-on-one interviews to develop further data revealed by the focus groups. The resulting data was then coded, and themes were generated from the analysis. The three themes identified through the analysis involved the Bringing Energy Efficiency Home team members’ knowledge (or lack thereof), perceptions, and their bonding and sense of community. Where knowledge leads to perception and the development of a sense of community within the team the recommended course of action identified by this research is the development and implementation of a public-facing website. The development and implementation of the website will lead to readily accessible information by the team, which it is hypothesized will improve the team member’s individual perceptions of their contributions and roles leading to an improved sense of community. The improved sense of community will then allow the team to function better together, thus allowing the team to address more effectively the energy-burdened neighborhoods that are the team's reason for forming.

Keywords

EMPOWER Team Alachua County, Sense of Community, Efforts to alleviate energy-burdened neighborhoods, Qualitative action research, Grounded theory approach using focus groups, interviews, memoing, and journaling

Rights Statement

Copyright 2024, author

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