Qualitative interviews of midwest aquaculture producers

<p>In the Fall of 2020, we developed an interview guide using the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen 1991) and trust ecology (Stern and Baird, 2015) as the underlying theoretical framework. The interview guide was developed as part of an MS thesis project (Hartenstine, 2022) and divided into sections designed to address each of the three main constructs of TPB—attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. We included an additional construct—past behavior—and a section of questions regarding the actual intentions of the interviewees.</p>

<p>Following the TPB section, the next portion of the interview guide was designed to understand trust dynamics. These questions were not as explicitly catered to our chosen theoretical framework of trust ecology (Stern and Baird, 2015), but rather were more inductive in nature, with the intention of analyzing them using this theory after the interviews were completed. Specifically, the trust questions focused on trustworthiness of information sources, regulators, and Extension. The interview guide was first reviewed with my graduate committee, consisting of professors within the field of natural resources. Initial edits were made, and a draft was submitted to the Purdue University Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB determined the study was exempt from IRB review, and we proceeded with pilot testing. Pilot interviews were conducted both internally with colleagues at Purdue University, and externally with aquaculture producers outside of the region (that were not included in the study). Throughout pilot testing, various questions were minorly adjusted for clarity purposes.</p>

<p>After successful pilot testing of the interview guide, we moved forward with recruitment of participants. We connected with aquaculture producers through our professional network—mainly Sea Grant organizations in each Great Lakes state who are involved in the Great Lakes Aquaculture Collaborative (GLAC). We set an initial goal of interviewing at least five producers in each of the eight Great Lakes states: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin. This initial goal of five interviews per state was what we considered to be a reasonable goal, not a magic number. We chose this number while acknowledging that we may end up needing more or fewer interviews depending on the level of saturation that we see develop as the interviewing phase progresses. </p>

<p>Although saturation was our biggest consideration when determining how many interviews we would ultimately conduct, we were also limited by the number of producers in each Great Lakes state that fit our criteria to be interviewed. Our primary focus in this study is on barriers to expansion of food fish aquaculture operations, therefore our recruitment was targeted at food fish producers. In some Great Lakes states, we were unable to even identify five food fish producers in the entire state and contacting them to set up an interview also proved to be difficult in some cases.  In addition to this already limited number of producers, there was an even more limited number of aquaculturists who solely produce for the food fish market. For many producers, food fish is just one of their market channels. Acknowledging the potential variation in barriers faced by food fish producers versus stocking producers, it was made clear to the interviewees that our main research focus was the expansion and diversification of the food fish aspect of their business, not stocking.</p>

<p>Ultimately, we contacted and set up interviews with 34 producers who voluntarily agreed to participate. The number of producers interviewed per state varied: 5 in Illinois, 5 in Indiana, 4 in Michigan, 4 in Minnesota, 4 in New York, 5 in Ohio, 3 in Pennsylvania, and 4 in Wisconsin. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these interviews took place over Zoom between the months of April and November 2021. Each interview lasted approximately 30—60 minutes. With the permission of the interviewee, interview audio was recorded, anonymized, and stored securely before transcribing. Given the relatively small size of the food fish industry, the extremely low number of food fish producers in certain Great Lakes states, and the fact that in some states we interviewed all of them, we have redacted demographic and geographic information from these transcripts in addition to information related to fish species produced and farm size details. In addition, we have excluded two interviews that were impossible to redact in a way that protected confidentiality while still being useful, readable data.</p>

<p>We made these decisions as a measure of protection for the confidentiality that was promised to the participants, some of whom could be too easily identified solely by demographic information or the inclusion of a statement they made accompanied by the state they are located in. This small sample size accurately reflects the modest size of the food fish aquaculture industry in the Great Lakes region.</p>

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<p>References</p>

<p>Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-t</p>

<p>Hartenstine, H.A., 2022. Land-based aquaculture in the Great Lakes region: Trust dynamics and barriers to growth (Master's thesis, Purdue University).</p>

<p>Stern, M. J., & Baird, T. D. (2015). Trust ecology and the resilience of natural resource management institutions. Ecology and Society, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.5751/es-07248-200214</p>