| The research question determined if generational perspectives would trend in a stronger and broader viewpoint in a portion of the Deep South than national partisan results in the Pew Research Center (2015) report Trends in American Values: 1987--2012: Partisan Polarization Surges in Bush, Obama Years. A pilot study consisted of 32 subjects, followed by a formal study of 100 subjects selected by three co-investigators in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Research participants provided quantitative responses to a survey with qualitative comments and in qualitative interviews. The mixed-methods research design results elaborated on the divide found by the Pew Research Center report, mixing hermeneutic considerations of preferences, trust, tolerance, the subjective well-being of the individual, and self-expression. The study is geared toward American public administration, with Generation X's and the Millennial Generation's responses differentiating Traditionalist and Boomer generations' responses as distinctly as the salad bowl and melting pot metaphors. |
