Google Trends.

Using Google Trends to improve my research. 

Google Trends can be used to in many ways.  In this case I wanted to compare two search terms and see how often they were used in Hong Kong.  The two terms  were "Global warming" and "climate change".  I asked Google Trends to look at just searches from Hong Kong by using the "Limit to" option. 

Google Trends told me that Global Warming was much more popular as a search in Hong Kong.  It also told me when people were searching these terms the most.  In this example there was a peak around December 2009.  I also ticked the "News" box so I could see headlines from specific times. 

Perhaps there was something significant that happened in December 2009 so  I used the date range function in Google Advanced settings (click on Search Tools next to the More Tab and then "Any time")  to see if this was the case. 

So here date range search and as you will be able to see there was a conference between China and the USA at that time on who should pay for global warming.   This gave me some very useful information on how governments are planning for global warming so this was very relevant to my research question. 

Google Trends also gave me related terms to search for both "top" and "rising" terms. 

Doing Research.

Getting websites about Hong Kong from Hong Kong.

So I now needed to do some research on climate change and Hong Kong.

I started off with a normal Google Search in Google Hong Kong.

Global warming "Hong Kong" plan. I found adding "plan" to the search really helped.

I then wanted to narrow this down using the site:hk operator so I would get just Hong Kong websites. 

I also went further than this and used the site:gov.hk operator and searched within web sites I found. 

I also wanted to search for recent articles so I used the "last updated" function and the News search function.

 Reserved operators 

I also wanted to look at the difference between reserved operators such as <.gov> and those that anyone can open such as <.org>.     It is useful to know how reliable these websites are.  I was ver careful of web sites. using <.com> as these can represent private organisations and firms that might want to sell me something or get me to believe in their "Public relations spin".  

RAVEN test. 

I really wanted to get good quality information so when I found a source of information I used the RAVEN test. 

R.A.V.E.N

Reputation:How reliable is the source or person that is providing the information.

Ability to Perceive:A source using the five sense to assess an event or situation.

Vested Interest:Personal interest leading to the expectation of personal gain from a favorable outcome.

Expertise:Skills, experience and training that give someone specialist knowledge and judgment.

Neutrality:Not being bias.

Who has linked to this web site?

I also wanted to know who links to the web site, this can give me another insight into how reliable the web site is.  You can use this by using the <link:> operator. 

Getting the final Question.

To what extent can citizens of Hong Kong rely on their governments to plan for and protect them from the effects of climate change.

So the question tools and planning helped me come up with a good question which I the added to the above star diagram.  I think the question scores well in all areas.

To what extent can citizens of Hong Kong rely on their governments to plan for and protect them from the effects of climate change.

RICH. This question has several parts including what should people do? What should the government do? Who is responsible for Global Warming? Who should pay for the effects of global warming?

As people form all over the World live in Hong Kong they may look at the issue in different ways.

CONNECTED. I added Hong Kong because I wanted to score higher on the CONNECTED part of the star diagram. I thought it was also a good question as Hong Kong is a highly urbanised area where people might feel protect most effects of global warming.

CHARGED. I also thought this was a charged question as people in Hong Kong are protesting more and more about the government and the environmental damage from mainland China. There is also the question of should it be the governments job to protect its citizens from the effects of Global Warming at any price.

I'm so happy I think

I have got a good question that I want to research and I think my local community will be interested in.

Eight ways of Thinking.

Thinking in Different ways. 

I then looked again at the questions and put them into groups using the above wheel that suggests 8 different ways of thinking.

1. People.
Different people will effected by global warming in different ways.

People in developing areas are more vulnerable to climatic change.

This article said people in the UK will be effected by changes overseas much more than they would by changes within the UK.  It also talked about benefits of climate change. 

2. Words.
3. Feelings.
There were alos many images that created strong feelings.

There was also this cartoon which used people's feelings and guilt.

4. Actions.
People are taking action against global warming in many ways and it was very interesting to see this.

Global Warming: May Ecowarriors break the law to save the world?

5. Sounds.

6. Numbers.
These articles had some great numbers on the effects of global warming.

Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a year, says Kofi Annan thinktank

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in 2007 that the short-term temperature rise would most likely be 1-3C (1.8-5.4F).

But in this new analysis, by only including the temperatures from the last decade, the projected range would be 0.9-2.0C.

7. Sights.
These picture from the UN also gave me lots of views into the the world of climate change.

8. Nature

There were also lots of effects on nature so I wanted to find photos that showed these.  I found these on coral bleaching. 

Closed and Open questions.

Review and Improve the Questions.

Great I have got a good list of questions but now I have to make sure the questions are open (this is what the question planning tool told me to do.)

I wanted more examples of open questions, especially making the questions as open as possible.  So I found this web site. 

This gave me some good ideas. So here are the changes I made to the questions and statement.
There are some benefits to global warming, but most are bad.

Became. Do the benefits of global warming outweigh the problems?

People and nations are affected by the changes.

Became. To what extent will individuals and nations be effected by climate change?

How exactly will individuals and nations be effected my climate change?

Some places are going to get colder, not warmer. 

Became.  What is the global distribution of warming and cooling associated with climate change.

Most people know about global warming but are not planning for it.Most people think they will not be effected by global warming.

Became. To what extent will people be effected by climate change?

How should citizens plan personally for the effects of climate change?

People think the government will protect them from the impacts of global warming. 

Became. To what extent can citizens rely on their governments to plan for and protect them from the effects of climate change.

Whose responsibility is to plan and repsond to climate change?

People who live in coastal areas are most at risk from global warming.

Became. How vulnerable are people in coastal areas to the effects of climate change?

Where exactly are the most vulnerable areas to global climatic change.

Melting icebergs will cause sea levels to rise and polar bears will die out.

Became. What are the potential impacts and vulnerabilities on polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of global climatic change?

My property and car insurance policy will compensate me for damage caused by global warming.

Became.  To what extent can individuals rely on affordable insurance policies to protect them from the impacts of climatic change.

Using the Question Tool.

Developing the question. 

I now wanted to develop my question to make it more interesting. So I used the Question Development tool on ISLE.

   What does effects mean?

Looking at websites I found  there were possible benefits of global warming.  I also found out that not all places are going to get warmer, some will get colder.

So back to the questioning tool.

Thing we Know and Want to Know

So here are the things my team and I think we know about Global Warming.

Think we know...........

• There are some benefits to global warming, but most are bad.
• People and nations are affected by the changes.
• Some places are going to get colder, not warmer.
• Most people know about global warming but are not planning for it.
• Most people think they will not be effected by global warming.
• People think they government will protect them from the impacts of global warming.
• People who live in coastal areas are most at risk from global warming.
• Melting icebergs will cause sea levels to rise and polar bears will die out.
• My property and car insurance policy will compensate me for damage caused by global warming.

Want to know..........

• Can people rely on the government to protect them?
• Which countries will be effected by global warming?
• If some areas are cooling what should we be talking about?
• Which areas are going to cool / warm the most?
• Is it just about changes in temperature? Will some areas suffer from changes even if they do not cool / warm?
• Am I protected from the impacts of global warming or should I be worried?
• Can I help stop global warming?
• Can I protect myself and my property?
• Could I benefit from global warming?
• What sort of people are most at risk?
• Should all people plan for global warming in the same way?

Background Research.

How do people cope with Global Warming?

Developing the question.

Getting my background research right.

Great so I knew already that Global Warming is going to cause problems such as rising sea levels, hotter weather, drought, diseases in plants animals and people.  So just to make sure I did a little research on line, there may be some impacts that I did not know about.

So this is how I did it.  I went to Google and searched for impacts  global warming.  As you can see Google guessed what I was looking for and suggested some alternatives.

I then wanted to narrow my results using the Advanced settings Gear Icon.  You can see that I wanted the reading level displayed, sites from just one country (.hk), within the last year. 

 I also used the News search function to and the map tab.  I thought this would be a good way to search for websites from around the world. 

As I found good websites I saved the bookmarks in Diigo in a shared group so my team can look at them as well.  I thought carefully about the tags and used the description box.