Terrorism in Australia: Myth Or Reality? a Psychometric Study Into the Western Australian Public's Perception of Terrorism
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Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses : Honours Theses 2010 Terrorism in Australia: Myth or reality? A psychometric study into the Western Australian public's perception of terrorism Richard Sargent Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons Part of the Quantitative Psychology Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Sargent, R. (2010). Terrorism in Australia: Myth or reality? A psychometric study into the Western Australian public's perception of terrorism. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/1240 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/1240 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. Where the reproduction of such material is done without attribution of authorship, with false attribution of authorship or the authorship is treated in a derogatory manner, this may be a breach of the author’s moral rights contained in Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Courts have the power to impose a wide range of civil and criminal sanctions for infringement of copyright, infringement of moral rights and other offences under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. USE OF THESIS The Use of Thesis statement is not included in this version of the thesis. Terrorism in Australia: Myth or Reality? A Psychometric Study into the Western Australian Public's Perception of Terrorism By Richard Sargent. BSc (Security) A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of Bachelor of Science (Security) Honours. School of Computer and Security Science Faculty of Computing, Health & Science Edith Cowan University Principal Supervisor Dr David Jonathan Brooks Submission Date 11 ABSTRACT Terrorism is not a new concept as terrorist individuals and organisations since time immemorial have used the threat of violence or actual violence to generate fear in individuals, organisations and governments alike. Fear is a powerful weapon and it is used in order to gain political, ideological or religious objectives. The attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on the 11th September 2001 (9/11) highlighted the dangers of the inadequate intelligence, border security and hmnigration practices that led to this event. The attacks were a security wake up call not only for the United States of America but for the entire world. The 9/11 attacks and other more recent terrorist attacks such as the Bali (lih October 2002 & 1st October 2005), Madrid (11th March 2004) and London (ih July 2005) bombings have sent security shockwaves around the world, as governments scramble to ensure that their own anti-terrorism security strategies are adequate to meet this new threat. The Federal Australian government undertook a range of security reviews and participated in a number of regional forums, bilateral pacts and international counter terrorism aid partnerships. Domestically, Australia also enhanced its capacity to respond to a possible terrorism event through multiple security enhancements across key areas including border security, defence and intelligence based agencies. In partnership with these new security initiatives a national public counter terrorism campaign was implemented in December 2002. Due to the unprecedented nature of these terrorist events, there has been little specific research into how terrorist events have impacted on the Australian public or how the public's social psychometric risk perception of terrorism contrasts with other known. risks. This study's purpose was to address this shmifall in knowledge, by examining key social and security changes in Australian society post 9/11. The study used a number of primary and secondmy data sources, a literature review and a research survey to address the study's research questions. The research survey was based on a Likert scale devised to measure the public's psychometric risk perceptions of terrorism. This research compared terrorism to other similar risks and found it ranked second highest in terms of dread risk and midrange in terms of familiarity risk. The study recommended changes to current first response management practices and reinforced that there was an ongoing need for research into public risk perception and public awareness safety campaigns. It is only through an understanding of the public's reactions to risk that policy and decision-makers can promote and implement effective health, safety and security reforms that will be of benefit to both industry and the general co1m1mnity alike. 111 COPYRIGHT and ACCESS DECLARATION I certify that this thesis does not, to the best of my knowledge and belief: (i) incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any institution of higher education; (ii) contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text; or (iii) contain any defamatory material Signed .... Dated.... ., IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to Doctor David Brooks who provided immeasurable assistance, guidance and support in completing this project. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the staff of the security science faculty whose guidance and support over many years has helped me to grow and mature to this level of development. An extreme debt of appreciation and gratitude has to go to my rock, my wife and long suffering partner Ruth who has given her time selflessly and has laboured for many hours proof reading, editing and giving her constructive criticism. To all those who took the time to patiicipate in this project, your cooperation and assistance has been invaluable and I thank each of you for taking pati. Thanks also go to my family, Margaret, Lee, Mike, Christine and Keith who have been my foundations of suppoti throughout my 'university career'. Finally special thanks go to my good friends Michael Pajich, Nathan Alday, Jemma Thurston, and Roselyn Dinkgreve who through their humour, patience and understanding have allowed me to retain my sanity while completing this task. ) v LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Appendix B Terrorist Attacks Involving Australian Fatalities, Injuries or Damage to Australian Interests .................................................................... 134 Table 1.2 Ten Year Explosive Target Smmnary from 1998 to 2007 .................................... 7 Table 1.3 Ten Year Explosive Target Smmnary ........................................................... 8 Table 2.1 Modern Constructs and Defmitions of Public Risk Perception ................................. 24 Table 4.1 Pilot Study Two: Reliability Analysis- Scale (Cronbach Alpha) .......................... 52 Table 4.2 Pearson Correlation Values ...................................................................... 55 Table 4.3 Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Table ................................... 56 Table 5.1 Age Groups by Gender Category ............................................................... 63 Table 5.2 Terrorism Risk Awareness (Anti-Terrorism Campaigns) ....................................... 69 Table 5.3 Main Study Reliability Analysis- Scale (Cronbach Alpha) ................................. 71 Table 5.4 Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. ......................................... 72 Table 6.1 Appendix F Principal Australian Security Improvements Post 9111 ..................... 14 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 The Study's Overview ............................................................................ .11 Figure 2.1 Psychometric risk paradigm: Location and Risk Characteristics of 81 Risk Based Hazards ............. : ......................................................... 21 Figure 2.2 The Social Amplification of Risk Framework Model. ....................................... 25 Figure 2.3 Cronbach's Co-efficient Alpha Fonhula ...................................................... 30 Figure 3.1 Likert Scale Exatnple ............................................................................. 36 Figure 4.1 Pilot Study Spatial Factor Representation ...................................................... 50 Figure 4.2 Factor Characteristic Profiles of Each Activity/Teclmology ................................. 51 Figure 4.3 Comparison of Slavic's Psychometric Study with the Pilot Study Results ............... 53 Figure 5.1 Combined Spatial Factor Representation of All Results ....................................... 65 Figure 5.2 Main Study Factor Characteristic Profiling ..................................................... 67 Vl TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 -INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 1.2 Terrorism Public