Methodology and Major Findings of a Comparative Research Project on Environmental Consciousness in Hong Kong (China), Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam(<Special Issue>Environmental Consciousness in Southeast and East Asia: Comparative Studies of Public Perceptions of Environmental Problems in Hong Kong(China), Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam)

Abstract

The papers in this special issue present the findings of research conducted as part of a comparative project on environmental consciousness in several countries (Hong Kong-China, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam) in Southeast and East Asia. This project was undertaken in order to try to better understand the nature of public environmental concerns in different countries and to search for commonalities and differences in these perceptions. In this introduction we describe the objectives of the research, the conceptual framework employed for the country studies, and the research methodology we employed. We then present a brief comparison of the cultural models we have generated for each of the countries and discuss some other key findings.