Appendix: Study Approach and Methodology

Abstract

Our empirical analyses of the demographic, economic, and social transformations occurring across the Intermountain West were pursued at several different analytic scales, utilizing multiple data sources and varied analytic methodologies. Consistent with the framework presented in Chap. 2, this multi-level, multi-method approach was grounded in the realization linkages between social and economic conditions and natural resource conditions can vary in complex ways that reflect a “nestedness” of relationships across different spatial and analytic scales and differing units of analysis (see Beckley 1998). As we discussed in some detail in Chap. 2, an understanding of the relationships between human behavior, community structure, and ecosystem change requires consideration of temporal factors, spatial factors, and also the differing insights provided by varied theoretical lenses.