ELICITING AND CLASSIFYING CONCERNS - A METHODOLOGICAL CRITIQUE

Two methodological steps in the study of peoples' concerns are elicita tion and classification. Elicitation of concerns through analytical me thods such as surveys can be supplemented with techniques that perform more diversively. We present two examples of how this can be accompli shed: one in the expert community and one in the lay community. A clas sification taxonomy is a subjective choice of the researcher and it ca n only be evaluated against the stated objectives of the research. We present a classification schema that is explicity oriented toward diag nosing the substantive needs of public discourses about risk decision making. To illustrate how concerns can be elicited in a social setting and how this classification tool can be applied, we report on a publi c participation exercise in New Jersey where citizens discussed the im pacts of land application of sewage sludge at an experimental farm.