Methodological toolbox for social aspects of Radon and NORM: Quantitative research methods

The reports here are part of the RadoNorm project which receives funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2019-2020 under grant agreement No 900009. This study is part of the WP 6 workpackage that addresses the lack of systematic and methodological approaches to studying the socio-economic aspects of sustainable radon remediation frameworks and understanding the socio-psychological situation of affected populations and stakeholders. To address this gap, a work package (WP) aims to develop a set of tools to bridge the awareness-action gap regarding radiation protection. The WP will analyze the effects of citizen participation and institutional empowerment in scientific research related to various radiological exposures, such as radon and NORM. Currently, there is limited exploration of the perception of radiological risks associated with geothermal energy, the use of NORM in building materials, and radon spas. The positions of stakeholders in these areas are unknown, which has implications for communication, socio-political decisions, market dynamics, and controversy surrounding exposure situations. To tackle these challenges, WP6 has set the following objectives: developing and testing a social science toolbox of qualitative and quantitative methods for risk perception and behavior related to radon and NORM exposures; creating health communication tools for behavior change in radon and NORM exposure situations; fostering citizen science perspectives in radon-prone areas; investigating and addressing risk perception, communication, and governance challenges in specific exposure situations to improve radiation protection measures; and providing science-based policy recommendations related to societal aspects of decision making in radiation protection. This study contains data from quantitative research methods.