Natural Hazards and Job Choice: Methodology

The game was open to all U.S. residents who were at least 18 years of age. All game data was anonymous as no personally identifiable information was collected about participants. Participants progressed through the following nine steps to reach a final analysis of their decisions. Participants were allowed to play the game as many times as they wished.

  1. Age gate: Participants were required to be at least 18 years of age to play the game. They were required to specify their age before being able to start the game.

  2. Educational background and location preference: Participants were asked to provide information about their educational background and location preference. This information was used to tailor the job offers presented to the participants.

  3. Choosing a job: A set of 16 jobs were selected and presented to the participants in pairs. The participant progressed through 4 rounds of selections starting with the initial set of 16 jobs to a final job choice in the last round. Each job offer included information about the job’s tasks, salary, hazard risk, and domicile factors (i.e., crime risk, cost of living, disposable income). Participants were asked to choose the job offer that they would be more likely to accept. The set of jobs offered to the participants varied salary, cost of living, crime rate and hazard rate to assess which combination of these factors were associated with selected job offers.

  4. Reasons for the final job choice: The participant was asked to provide reasons for their final job choice. This information was used to understand the factors that influence the participant’s decision-making process.

  5. Risk tolerance assessment: The participant was asked about their level of concern with hazards in the location where they live, about how much they would be willing to spend to avoid loss and harm from hazards, and the severity of impacts they have experienced from specific hazards. This information was used to understand the participant’s overall risk tolerance level.

  6. Factors influencing choice of current residence: The participant was asked about the factors that influenced their choice of current residence. This information was used to understand the participant’s preferences and priorities when choosing a place to live, including how hazard risk influenced that choice.

  7. Factors influencing choice of current occupation: The participant was asked about the factors that influenced their choice of their current occupation. This information was used to understand the participant’s preferences and priorities when choosing a job.

  8. Cohort information: The participant is asked about their demographic information. This information was used to calculate the participant’s hazard metrics relative to their cohort.

  9. Job choice and metrics: The participant was shown their final job choice and provided an analysis of their hazard risk tolerance and change in reasons for choosing their current location and final job.

Sources of data used in this game

The data used in this game comes from the sources listed below. Also provided are caveats on the incorporation of the data into the game.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment Statistics, May 2023

  • Source: https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm
  • Data used: Total employment and annual salary data for each occupation code at the state level.
  • Rows where no annual wages were provided were deleted from the usable data set.
  • Cells marked with # were re-populated with $239,200. According to BLS, the # = indicates a wage equal to or greater than $115.00 per hour or $239,200 per year.

FEMA’s National Risk Index

  • Source: https://hazards.fema.gov/nri/data-resources
  • Data used: County level data for overall risk rating and risk ratings for each identified hazard: avalanche, coastal flooding, cold wave, drought, earthquake, hail, heat wave, hurricane, ice storm, landslide, lightning, riverine flooding, strong wind, tornado, tsunami, volcanic activity, wildfire, and winter weather.

Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Calculator, January 2024

FBI Crime Data Explorer, NBIRS Tables: State tables, offenses by agency for 2022

  • Source: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#
  • Data used: United States Offense Type by Agency, 2022: population, total offenses, crimes against persons, crimes against property, and crimes against society.
  • Rates were calculated as crime per 1,000 persons ((number of crimes / population) * 1,000)
  • Data was only used for cities as this is the only data that also provides population data.

O*NET® 28.3 Database

  • Source: https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html#all-files
  • Data used: Job Zones: Maps the occupational codes to the corresponding job zone.
  • This game included information from the O*NET 28.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.

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