University students' awareness of global climate change: A Mixed method research

Climate change, a global problem, is among the most frequently discussed topics today. With the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992, an important step was taken internationally in the fight against climate change. Turkey, on the other hands, supports these efforts by becoming a party to international agreements in the fight against climate change in line with the policies it has determined. Considering that there is an international effort in the fight against climate change, determining the level of awareness of individuals on this issue and carrying out work in this direction can be seen as an important step. This thesis aims to determine the climate change awareness of undergraduate students at Akdeniz University. In line with this purpose, the Global Climate Change Awareness Scale was developed to determine the awareness levels of students. After the scale development phase, this scale was applied to students studying at faculties in the central campus of Akdeniz University. Focus group interviews were conducted with students from two faculties with the highest and lowest climate change awareness levels using semi-structured interview forms. Thus, the main reasons underlying the high and low climate change awareness levels were revealed. In this thesis, where quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used together, mixed research methods were applied. The research design is a case selection type, a subtype of the mixed method explanatory sequential design. SPSS 22 and AMOS 25 programs were used in the analysis of the data obtained in the scale development and application stages. MAXQDA 24 program was used in the analysis of qualitative data. After the application of the 34-item Global Climate Change Awareness Scale developed as a result of this thesis to undergraduate students, the Faculty of Architecture had the highest awareness, while the Faculty of Science had the lowest. As a result of the research, it was seen that the answers given by the students of the Faculty of Architecture with high awareness in the focus group interview were at a sufficient level. It has been determined that individuals with high climate change awareness were more interested in this issue and had a higher level of knowledge. Therefore, it is important to include studies aimed at increasing individuals' climate change awareness in the policy-making process in the fight against climate change.