Analysis of search query statistics as a tool for monitoring the ecological attitudes of the region's population

The article reveals the main approaches to understanding the essence of ecological culture, as well as its basic components: cognitive, value and activity. The article focuses on the fact that pro-ecological behaviorur is a leading indicator of ecological culture. It is noted that a society can have a sufficiently high level of environmental knowledge and correct values, but in the absence of pro-environmental behaviorur, we cannot speak about the proper level of environmental culture. Attention is focused on the difficulties of empirical study of the real state of the components of ecological culture. The definition of the term "digital footprint" is given. The possibility and expediency of studying the ecological attitudes of the population as the most mobile element of ecological culture using the analysis of statistics of search queries is shown. The purpose of the study is to identify the ecological attitudes of the inhabitants of the Sverdlovsk region and approbation of the methodology for analyzing statistics of search queries of the population on environmental topics, recorded by the Yandex search engine. The study was carried out within the framework of a quantitative approach. To collect empirical information, a continuous collection of search queries from the population of the Sverdlovsk region was carried out from 2010 to 2019 inclusive. The technique of collection, processing and analysis of search queries of the population is described. The analysis made it possible to identify a number of significant pro-ecological attitudes of the population, for example, for a significant part of the population of the Sverdlovsk region it is important to know and apply technologies for waste disposal, to know the state of air and water in the place of residence, as well as technologies for checking and cleaning them. It was found that children and adolescents are more interested in information about various kinds of environmental pollution, and young people and people of the middle age group are more interested in means and technologies for waste disposal and cleaning of natural resources. In general, the results of the study showed that search query data can serve as a source of up-to-date information on the ecological attitudes of the region's population. The advantages and disadvantages of the analysis of search queries as an empirical research method are shown.

ecological culture, activity component, ecological attitudes, pro-ecological action, digital footprint, search engine, Yandex

1. Bogdanov M. B., Smirnov I. B. Opportunities and Limitations of Digital Footprints and Machine Learning Methods in Sociology. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskiye i sotsial'nyye peremeny, 2021: 1: 304–328. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2021.1.1760 (in Russ.).

2. Glazychev S. N., Kosonozhkin V. I. Antropojekosistemy i ustojchivost' biosfery [Anthropoecosystems and biosphere sustainability]. Ispol'zovanie i ohrana prirodnyh resursov v Rossii, 2011: 6 (120): 114–117 (in Russ.).

3. Derjabo S. D., Jasvin V. A. Jekologicheskaja pedagogika i psihologija [Environmental pedagogy and psychology]. Rostov-na-Donu, OOO «Feniks», 1996: 480 (in Russ.).

4. Egorova L. G., Ermolaeva P. O., Noskova E. P. Dinamika jekologicheskogo soznanija gorozhan (na primere g. Kazani) [The dynamics of the ecological consciousness of the townspeople (on the example of Kazan)]. Uchenye zapiski kazanskogo universiteta. Serija: Gumanitarnye nauki, 2013: 155: 6: 23–33 (in Russ.).

5. Ermakov D. S. Jekologicheskaja kompetencija i kompetentnost' [Environmental competence and competency]. Pedagogika, 2015: 7: 41–50 (in Russ.).

6. Ermolaeva P. O. Jekologicheskij obraz zhizni rossijskogo i amerikanskogo studenchestva [Ecological lifestyle of Russian and American students]. Vestnik Instituta sociologii, 2011: 2: 2: 236–253 (in Russ.).

7. Ermolaeva P. O., Ermolaeva Y. V. Critical analysis of foreign theories of environmental behavior. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: Ekonomicheskiye i sotsial'nyye peremeny, 2019: 4: 323–346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2019.4.16 (In Russ.).

8. Ivanova T. N., Ivanov M. N. Theoretical approaches to the study of environmental culture in modern sociology. Karel'skij nauchnyj zhurnal, 2016: 5: 3 (16): 129–133 (in Russ.).

9. Kolosova O. Ju. Social and philosophical analysis of ecological culture. Ekonomicheskiye i gumanitarnyye issledovaniya regionov, 2019: 1: 123–127 (in Russ.).

10. Mamedov N. M. Jekologicheskoe obrazovanie: sociokul'turnyj kontekst [Environmental education: sociocultural context]. Vestnik KRAUNC. Gumanitarnye nauki, 2012: 2 (20): 6–13 (in Russ.).

11. Martinovich E. V. Cognitive component of the ecological culture of future specialists in social and cultural activities. Izvestija Jugo-Zapadnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija: Lingvistika i pedagogika, 2018: 8: 4 (29): 135–141 (in Russ.).

12. Nesgovorova N. P., Savel'ev V. G. Formation of the cognitive component of the ecological culture of university students in the process of practice-oriented educational activities. Vestnik Chitinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2010: 1 (58): 39–44 (in Russ.).

13. Oreshkina T. A. Ecological culture of youth of the Sverdlovsk region. Grazhdanskaja kul'tura molodezhi Sverdlovskoj oblasti: tendencii, problemy, perspektivy: monografija [Civic culture of youth of the Sverdlovsk region: trends, problems, prospects]. Ed. by Ju. R. Vishnevski. Ekaterinburg, Izd-vo Ural. un-ta, 2017: 165–180 (in Russ.).

14. Oreshkina T. A. Ecological competences in the structure of educational programs in higher institutions. Vestnik Instituta sotziologii, 2017: 23: 113–123. DOI: 10.19181/vis.2017.23.4.484 (in Russ.).

15. Rejmers N. F. Iz putevyh zametok jekologa [From the ecologist's travel notes] Astrahanskij vestnik jekologicheskogo obrazovanija, 2003: 1 (5): 55–72 (in Russ.).

16. Aktualisirovannye cennosti sovremennogo rossiyskogo obschestva [The updated values of modern Russian society]. Ed. by I. A. Khaliy. Moscow, IS RAS publ., 2015: 273. Accessed 20.05.21. URL: http://www.isras.ru/publ.html?id=4061 (in Russ.).

17. Shutova I. P., Osinceva N. V. Diagnostics of the level of formation of motivational and activity-behavioral components of the ecological culture of the personality of the future teacher: application of the method of G.E. Zalessky. Nauchnyj dialog, 2017: 4: 273–287. DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2017-4-273-287 (in Russ.).

18. Yanitsky O. N. Proizvodstvo sotsial'no-ekologicheskogo znaniya. V poiskakh normal'noy modeli [Production of social and environmental knowledge. In search of a normal model]. Obshhestvennye nauki i sovremennost', 2006: 5: 130–141 (in Russ.).

19. Andrieieva O., Galan Y., Hakman A., Holovach I. Application of ecological tourism in physical education of primary school age children. Journal of Physical Education and Sport (JPES), 2017: 17: 1: 7–15.

20. Boudlaie H., Nargesian A. Digital footprint in Web 3.0: Social Media Usage in Recruitment. AD-minister, 2019: 34: 139–156.

21. Cambria E., Wang HX., White B. Guest Editorial: Big Social Data Analysis. Knowledge-based systems, 2014: 69: 2–14.

22. Dunlap R. E., Jones R. E. Environmental concern: Conceptual and measurement issues. In: Handbook of Environmental Sociology. Westport, ST, Greenwood Press, 2002: 482–524.

23. Garling T., Loukopoulos P. Effectiveness, public acceptance, and political Feasibility of coercive measures for reducing car traffic. In: T. Garling, L. Steg (eds). Threats to the quality of urban life from car traffic: Problems, causes, and solutions. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 2007: 313–324. DOI: 10.1108/9780080481449-017

24. Goncalves B., Perra N., Vespignani A. Modeling Users' Activity on Twitter Networks: Validation of Dunbar's Number. Plos one, 2001: 6 (8). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0022656

25. Kaiser F. G., Doka G., Hofstetter P., Ranney M. A. Ecological behavior and its Environmental consequences: A life cycle assessment of a self-report measure. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2003: 23: 1: 11–20. DOI: 10.1016/S0272-4944 (02)00075-0

26. Predigera S., Vollanb B., Frölich M. The impact of culture and ecology on cooperation in a common-pool resource experiment. Ecological Economics, 2011: 70: 9: 1599–1608.

27. Sawitria D. R, Hadiyantob H., Sudharto P., Hadic P. Pro-Environmental Behavior from a Social-Cognitive Theory Perspective. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 2015: 23: 27–33.

28. Schultz P. W., Nolan J., Cialdini R., Goldstein N., Griskevicius V. The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 2007: 18: 5: 429–434. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01917.x

29. Schwartz S. H. Normative influences on altruism. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 1977: 10. 1: 221–279. DOI: 10.1016/s0065-2601 (08)60358-5

30. Steg L., Dreijerink L., Abrahamse W. Factors influencing the acceptability of Energy policies: testing VBN theory. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2005: 25: 5: 415–425. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2005.08.003

31. Stern P. C. Information, incentives and pro-environmental consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Policy, 1999: 22: 2: 461–468.

32. Zabokritskaya L., Kulminskaia A., Komotsky E. The experience of analyzing the digital track of fans to assess the holding of mass events: the example of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. 2nd International Scientific Conference on New Industrialization: Global, National, Regional Dimension (SICNI 2018). Ekaterinburg, 2018: 344–348. DOI: 10.2991/sicni-18.2019.70