Investigating the Mississippi River: A qualitative analysis of perceptions, engagement, and values

Abstract

This report analyzes pre-existing interviews with residents along the Mississippi River from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. Our goal is to provide qualitative data on respondent’s perceptions, values, and engagement with the river to better inform federal policy decisions on water quality investments and support government and nonprofit communications and strategic planning efforts along the river. Our guiding research questions were:

How do resident’s perceptions, engagement, and values of the river differ throughout the diverse geophysical regions of the Mississippi River corridor? What correlations emerge between how people engage with the river and how they talk about the river throughout the regions?

This work summarizes data into a table to compare geographic features, river access, engagement, perceptions, values, and threats across the nine qualitative regions outlined by the Relay of Voices project. We incorporated respondent quotes in a narrative about the ways in which perceptions, engagement, and values differ throughout the regions and distilled key takeaways from the interview data to provide insight into the varied relationships people hold with the river throughout its diverse regions.