Quiz 7

The HTML, interactive version of this document can be found here

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Q1: Type your zip code of the neighborhood you selected for sampling 33146 and the environmental condition or characteristic or pollution you selected for monitoring noise pollution. Provide a justification underlying your selection of the zip code and the environmental condition or characteristic or pollution (2 points).

I chose noise pollution around UM’s Coral Gables campus.

This area was selected because:

• Coral Gables is accessible
• It is the home of most of UM’s undergraduate students, both on- and off-campus
• Coral Gables has an interior calmness of a typical suburban community with a more urban environment on its outskirts
  • Loud metro station with two stops in Coral Gables
  • Noise pollution from US-1
  • Doctor’s Hospital brings a plethora of EMS vehicles (and their sirens) into the area
  • Ample businesses, shopping centers, grocery stores, and parks

Noise pollution interferes with:

• sleep
• concentration
• communication
• recreation

College students have to balance their time in necessarily quiet environments (studying, sleeping) and often louder environments (parties, dining halls, etc.). Understanding the nature of typical noise pollution on UM’s campus can provide a more in-depth picture of the settings in which students spend the majority of their time.

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Q2: Describe your sampling design for observing the sources of the environmental condition you selected? Describe the pros and cons of your sampling design (2 points).

The data was collected from a purposive sample. This selection method makes sense for the intent to get a picture of noise pollution at places frequented by UM students, which is more meaningful for the purpose of this monitoring effort. Unfortunately, this sampling method does not allow for data to be generalized to the greater 33146 ZIP code and is less robust than random sampling methods.

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Q3: Describe your sample size, meaning how many sites and/or areas you will select for your field observation, and how you will select these sites/areas? Identify and mark the sites or areas that you have selected on the map and attach it as a part of this assignment (2 points).

Nine sites were intentionally chosen: 4 residential centers on/off-campus and 5 class/study areas.

Interactive map can be found here

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Q4: After visiting the sample sites, list the sources of the identified environmental condition/characteristic at/around your sample sites in the attached sheet, and enclose it with your quiz (2 points).

The sources of noise pollution can be found by clicking through the mapped points, but are also listed below:

Name	Noise	Sources
Red Road	64.5	Traffic (rush hour), many cars driving around
University Village	73.6	Traffic (Campus shuttle, beeping traffic), Many people, Other (AC units)
Richter	67.3	Other (birds chirping)
Campo Sano Construction Site	76.3	Other (air conditioning units)
Schwartz Center	67	Other (air conditioning units)
IT Building	59.7	Other (birds chirping, AC Units)
MP Dining Hall	66.8	Traffic, Many people
Stanford Circle	67	Traffic (Campus shuttle)
LSV/Metro	63	Traffic (Ponce & US-1), Other (Metro)

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Q5: Describe limitations of your sampling and observation strategy (2 points).

Sampling was limited by (1) areas accessible by car (2) locations that were frequented among students on campus. It was also limited by the time of day, rush-hour. While this time of day is optimal for trying to collect traffic-related noise pollution, it doesn’t capture any indoor noise pollution, most construction work, or landscaping work. Using an app to record the extent of noise pollution gave the data a more objective measure than simple human observation, but the app was free in the AppStore and may not be the most accurate tool for measuring sound.