Phoenix Area Social Survey (PASS)

The first Phoenix Area Social Survey (PASS) was conducted as a pilot study in 2001.
Our main objective was to examine the reciprocal relationships, or the interplay,
between the social and natural environments in an urban ecosystem. In order to begin to
understand this complex process, social scientists affiliated with the Central
Arizona-Phoenix LTER conducted a pilot survey of 302 residents in 8 neighborhoods in the
city of Phoenix. Our central research questions asked how neighborhood social ties,
values, and behaviors are connected with one another in ways that reflect willingness to
act socially and politically with respect to the environment, and how changing
environmental conditions, in turn, affect the quality of human life. The survey measured
the social ties of individuals to their communities, values and sentiments regarding
communities, behaviors that affect the natural environment, and satisfaction with the
quality of life in the area. The second wave of PASS was conducted in 2006 with an
expanded sample size in 40 neighborhoods across the metropolitan region. Many of the
questions about community were repeated from the pilot study and the new survey added
items for perceptions, values, and behavior concerning water supply and conservation;
land use, preservation and growth management; air quality and transportation; and
climate change and the urban heat island.