Future Society in 2024: 21st Century 'Good Life' - Rural Economy ...

Appendix 4: Summary of public attitudes research
A. Objectives
Overall, the objectives of the public attitudes research were to add depth and colour to the 20 and
50-year scenarios created at the workshop.
More specifically, the objectives of this stage of the project were to:
• Explore a ‘layman’ vision of the countryside in 20 and 50 years;
• Explore the general public’s reaction to the ‘expert’ 20 and 50 year scenarios;
• Compare and contrast the ‘layman’ and ‘expert’ scenarios;
• Use the general public’s ideas and feedback to make the 20 and 50-year scenarios more
plausible and more interesting.
B. Methodology
Four extended group discussions were conducted with members of the public. Each group lasted two
hours and was made up of six to eight respondents. The groups were split by:
• Social class and length of time in the area: two of the groups were with ABC1s who had
moved from an urban to a rural area within the last two years; two were with C2DEs who had
always lived in a rural area.
• Lifestage: two of the groups were with pre-family/young family (defined as those whose
eldest child was under 12); two were with older family/empty nester (defined as those
whose youngest child was 12 or over).
• Location: two of the groups were in a rural location in the South (the area around Ashford,
Kent), and two were in a deep rural location in the North (the area around Alnwick,
Northumberland).
C. Procedure
After an initial warm-up, respondents were asked how they viewed their area, and the countryside in
general in 2004. They were then asked to think about how the countryside might change over the
next 20 years. Images and key words were used to stimulate ideas and to help create a 2024
‘layman’ image board/scenario. Respondents were then given a brief summary of the ‘expert’ 20 year
scenarios, and were asked what they thought about these scenarios in terms of likelihood,
desirability, and fit with their own vision of the future.
This exercise was repeated for the 50 year scenarios – using images and key words to create a 2054
image board/scenario and then exploring respondents’ reaction to the ‘expert’ 50 year scenarios.
Finally, respondents were asked what implications they felt that these scenarios had for local and
national policy.
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