By Dr Louisa Wood (UK-HyRES), Dr Gareth Thomas (HI-ACT), Dr Chris Jones (UK-HyRES) and Dr Mitch Scovell (CSIRO)
Recently, there has been much interest in the role that hydrogen should play in helping society to ‘decarbonise’, particularly in light of the election of the new Labour Government and the likely changes this will bring to UK energy policy. To achieve ambitious national ‘net zero’ targets, it is likely that hydrogen will play an increasing role in powering our economy , and will likely feature more in people’s everyday lives. Possible examples of this include the use of hydrogen in homes, particularly for space and water heating (a scenario which is particularly current), and mobility applications, such as powering cars, buses and even planes.
What are the social sciences and why do we need them?
Social scientists are interested in the nature and preconditions for the acceptance of new technologies and policies. It is important to understand how people form attitudes towards technology and policy innovations (such as the use of hydrogen in the energy transition) as public (and wider social) acceptance or resistance to new technologies or policies can affect their implementation or effectiveness.
The social sciences, which include disciplines such as economics, psychology and sociology, use many different methods, models and theories to better understand human behaviour. The exact approaches that are used depend upon the particular social science in question, disciplinary background and the research question at hand.
Prior research into the social acceptance of hydrogen has varied in its focus and disciplinary approach. Some prominent studies in the field have used survey-based methodologies to quantitatively assess public perceptions of hydrogen from a psychological or sociological perspective (e.g., assessing how people’s attitudes, values or dispositions might affect their overall acceptance of different hydrogen technologies, projects or applications). For instance, prior quantitative research of this kind has found that factors such as the perceived risk of hydrogen technologies and trust in the industry are particularly important drivers of acceptance.
As the political and industrial focus on hydrogen grows, the likelihood that technologies, projects and policies will interface with members of the public (and other societal actors) increases. This raises the importance of further growth in social scientific research being conducted in this field, as there is still much to learn.
What are we doing in UK-HyRES and HI-ACT?
Recognising the importance of social acceptance for the success or failure of hydrogen projects in the UK, large-scale research investments, including UK-HyRES and HI-ACT, have adopted an integrated social scientific component to their core work programmes.
In the context of the UK-HyRES and HI-ACT, our social scientists are utilising a suite of research approaches to better understand how key groups within society will respond to different aspects of a possible hydrogen transition. For instance, the Social Theme of UK-HyRES, led by Dr Chris Jones at the University of Portsmouth, and supported by Dr Louisa Wood and Dr Mitch Scovell, is using a mixed-methods approach to better understand what drives the acceptability and acceptance of different hydrogen technologies among different groups of people (including publics). With a particular focus on emerging technologies, the team have, to date, assessed public perceptions and the perceived risk of geological hydrogen storage, and the use of hydrogen to power aeroplanes. They plan to now focus on business and industry approaches to communicating with publics about hydrogen, and to study the implications of these efforts for the acceptance of these technologies.
Meanwhile, researchers on HI-ACT (Work Package 4) are examining place-based perceptions of hydrogen use, particularly around industrial clusters. Professor Karen Henwood and Dr Gareth Thomas at Cardiff University are using ethnographic methods and place-based deliberation in order to better understand expert and public(s) visions of the future in areas where hydrogen may be deployed and the contexts in which hydrogen technologies may be deployed. To help scale-out engagement to reach larger publics, Dr Clara Crivallaro is leading the design of novel platforms for online engagement around hydrogen.
How do I know which social scientific method to use?
Differentiating between social scientific methods and understanding how, when and why each should be applied is key to undertaking effective research in an area that is inherently highly interdisciplinary. We provide here a simple schematic that can be used to guide researchers in deciding upon the appropriate approach for their research question, with the aim being to facilitate collaboration between social scientists and other research disciplines.
Social science is a broad field, but put simply, social scientists study people. This can cover human behaviour at the individual, group (e.g., family) or societal level. Often scientists and engineers may be interested in individual actions, personal decisions regarding purchasing or behaviour which might impact technology adoption, market potential, or patterns of energy consumption. Traditional economics treats individual behaviour as the outcome of rational decisions based on maximising utility based on individual preferences and assuming complete information about the world. This can help us understand how humans might behave in an ideal world, but is not always a very realistic picture of how humans actually behave. For this, it might be more useful to approach researchers from disciplines such as psychology and behavioural economics, who understand individual motivations, beliefs, perceptions of risk and benefit, or trust in providers as well as the heuristics which can undercut rational decision making.
At the same time, individual behaviour can also be shaped by wider patterns of social life such as cultural values, norms and expectations, economic circumstances and power relations which impact differently on different groups. These factors are difficult for individuals acting alone to change, but shape the forms of action and thought available across groups and societies. This can impact the extent to which specific policies meet with democratic support or opposition, and the degree to which members of society are willing or able to comply with policy or change their everyday practices.
Those with a more individualist leaning often try to incorporate social factors through ideas like internalised norms, while studies of routine social practices or policy change emphasise the role of accumulating individual actions gradually changing established cultural practices and policy over time. Most social science disciplines are thus able to cover a fairly broad spectrum of topics and concerns. However, differences in emphasis and substantive expertise means some social science disciplines are particularly well-suited to particular kinds of questions. The decision tree below is our first attempt at mapping social science disciplines onto specific questions engineers often have about individuals and society. More individualistically focussed disciplines appear closer to the top of the tree, while more socially focused disciplines appear lower down.
This is a highly simplified picture. Humanities disciplines such as politics, law, philosophy, and expertise across the arts also have important insights about how members of society may engage with or make sense of low carbon technologies, which more traditional social science approaches may miss. In reality, most social science disciplines have something to say about potential markets for low carbon technologies, changes in perception, policy or behaviour, and scholars within each discipline may draw on theory or findings from another to help address specific questions so it is always worth speaking to social scientists across different disciplines to help narrow down your questions and define an approach best suited to addressing them.
