Arij Mousa

Cognitive Apprehensions Regarding Drinking Water: a Cross-cultural Comparison Among Educated Arabs and Americans Living in Middletown, USA Arij Mousa

Cognitive Apprehensions Regarding Drinking Water describes and compares the cognitive apprehensions regarding drinking water quality in Muncie, Indiana, USA. The comparison was between two different, educated groups using constructive-grounded theory. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with both Arab (n=9) and American (n=9) participants. Five essential themes emerged from the interview data: the sensory properties of drinking water, pollutants, health concerns, information sources, and experience. The data from this study was grounded to the epistemologies regarding drinking water. Epistemologies differed between the Arab and American groups due to social factors such as ethnicity, culture, and past experiences. The study showed that the two groups in the study perceived knowledge regarding drinking water in different ways. The study showed that the educated Arabs had different cognitive apprehensions regarding drinking water compared to educated Americans due to their previous experiences with drinking water quality in their home countries and their lack of interest in the local media.