Interdisciplinary Marine Citizenship Research: Survey and Interview Data, 2017-2018

The interdisciplinary study investigated marine citizenship responsibilities and rights using pure mixed methods and an inductive research design. The aim was to investigate a wide rage of influences upon marine citizenship including participant characteristics, attitudes and values; relationships with the ocean as a place; and involvement and views about marine decision-making. Participants were active marine citizens, in order to understand retrospectively what their pathways to marine citizenship entailed. The study included an online survey and face-to-face interviews. Interviewees were survey participants purposefully selected to represent a diversity of the variables, and the interviews were conducted alongside or subsequent to a marine citizenship activity of the interview participant's choosing, to further qualify their personal experience of marine citizenship. The data were used to produce a PhD thesis which expanded the definition of marine citizenship to include a right to participate in marine decision-making, and identified a theoretical concept of marine identity as having a key role in motivating deeper marine citizenship.