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This chapter discusses textography as a strategy for researching academic writing in higher education. Textography is an approach to the analysis of written texts which combines text analysis with ethnographic techniques, such as surveys, interviews and other data sources, in order to examine what texts are like, and why. It aims to provide a more contextualized basis for understanding students’ writing in the social, cultural and institutional settings in which it takes place than might be obtained by looking solely at students’ texts. Through discussion of the outcomes of a textography, which examined the written texts submitted by visual and performing arts doctoral students at a number of Australian universities, we reflect on what we learnt from the study that we could not have known by looking at the texts alone. If we had looked at the texts without the ethnographic data not only are there many things we would not have known, but many of the things we might have said would likely have been right off the mark. Equally, had we just had the ethnographic data without the text analysis, we would have missed the insights provided by the explicit text analysis. The textography enabled us to see the diversity of practices across fields of study and institutions as well as gain an understanding of why this might be the case, all of which is of benefit to student writers and their supervisors.

The role of energy efficiency and particularly energy performance certificates (EPCs) has emerged as a topical and important aspect of real estate markets. Various studies have been carried out investigating the perceived capitalisation effects of energy efficiency on property prices. There, however, remains divergence of opinion whether the capitalisation effect is truly in existence with extant research showing differing magnitudes of effects, if any. To date, no study (that the authors are aware of) has investigated the nature of the transition between EPC bands and price effects. The purpose of this study is to add to the research of the energy efficiency of housing to examine the nature of the likelihood of property characteristics being associated with higher EPC scores and value.

This research undertakes a suite of methodological tests to investigate the more latent relationships between EPC bands and pricing behaviour using 3,797 achieved sales prices within the Belfast housing market. Binary logit regression models are specified in conjunction with a Polytomous Universal Model to examine the likelihood of EPC bands falling within a particular property type and the likelihood of any pricing effects.

The findings show the differing property types to comprise very distinct and complex relationships in terms of price and EPC banding. The binary logit model estimations for both terrace properties and apartments reveal an increased likelihood to obtain higher EPC scores, with the semi-detached sector displaying a “mixed effect” with detached property revealing decreased probability of having superior energy performance and decreased likelihood of having poorer energy performance. The ordinal model estimations indicate that sales price comprises no relationship with energy performance, inferring that there is no increased probability of an increase in sales price with higher EPC rating.

This research offers new insights and focus on achieving a better understanding of the nexus between energy performance and property characteristics using alternative modelling approaches. This provides more exploratory insights into the complex relationships and offers awareness for policy discourse in terms of targeting properties which will tend to be poorer in energy efficiency.

The current literature on energy certificates shows that Energy Performance Certificate labels have an important effect on real estate prices. However, interestingly, the limited studies that address the rental market find significantly lower price premiums than the sales market. The purpose of this paper is to add to this literature, by doing a comparative analysis of price premiums in the sales and rental market in Flanders (Belgium).

This study uses a hedonic regression model to analyze 177,670 real estate listings between 2016 and 2021. The data is provided by Immoweb – the largest online real estate platform in Belgium. The data set was divided in sold and rented properties: the authors evaluated 126,217 sales listings and 51,453 rent listings.

The results confirm that energy efficient properties generate a price premium, but that this premium is significantly larger in the sales market than in the rental market. In addition, the findings indicate that both investors and landlords could benefit strongly from renovating dwellings – especially when renovating from an F label to an A label.

Previous research focuses strongly on the sales market, although in many countries the rental market is similar in size and responsible from much energy consumption. Interestingly, the few studies that are addressing the rental market, find singificantly smaller price premiums than in the sales market. The findings add to this literature tradition and offer a comparative analysis of price premiums in the sales and rental market in Flanders. This allows us to not only show the similarities between both markets but also highlight the differences – creating valuable insights for academia, governments and real estate professionals.

The current literature has not investigated the perceived value of energy efficiency by households, regardless of financial benefits. Furthermore, there is a severe lack of research that investigates the effectiveness of the current format of EPC-labels. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold: to study how households value energy efficiency in the housing market, regardless of price effects.

This study uses multiple hedonic regression models to analyse 706,778 Flemish properties for sale or rent between 2019 and 2023. The data is provided by Immoweb – the largest online real estate platform in Belgium. Given that the selling market is driven by different mechanisms than the rental market, the data set was divided in sold (522,164 listings) and rented properties (184,614 listings).

The ambiguous results of the A-label in the selling market indicate that the “class evaluation effect” found in related markets which use labels (e.g. household appliances) is also present in the housing market. However, the results of the other (lower) labels clearly show that owners do value energy improvements within labels, and this effect becomes stronger as the EPC-label becomes better. The rental market shows the opposite results. Energy improvements are only valued if they translate into a financial benefit. Taking these findings into account, the second part of this research shows that rescaling the EPC-label creates an incentive for improvements within labels.

This paper provides novel insights by studying the perceived value of energy efficiency in the absence of financial benefits and critically studying the effectiveness of the EPC-labels in their current shape. By investigating both the sales and rental market, the authors are able to make a comparison which creates valuable insights for academia, governments and real estate professionals.

COVID-19 has had remarkable impacts in rural America. Although the onset of the pandemic was in urban areas, it quickly spread to rural areas and ultimately resulted in higher mortality rates for rural populations. Due to this and other associated impacts, the pandemic has resulted in mental health issues across rural America. In this chapter, the authors first describe the state of rural America pre-pandemic, then detail the overall and mental health impacts of the pandemic on rural people. Following this, the authors report results of a case study on COVID-19 in the rural America West and conclude with recommended steps for addressing the unfolding crisis. Many of the steps the authors can take to improve rural mental health following the pandemic have long-been necessary. However, given the impacts of COVID-19, they are now needed more than ever.

The purpose of this paper is to focus specifically on the benefits of using mixed methods to investigate dietary change from adolescence to adulthood exemplified using the findings from the ASH30 longitudinal study. The ASH30 study is a longitudinal dietary survey which provided quantitative evidence of dietary change and investigated factors influencing dietary change from adolescence to adulthood.

Two three‐day food diaries were collected both in 1980 (aged 11‐12 years) and 2000 (aged 31‐32 years) from the same 198 respondents in North East England. In 2,000 questionnaires were used to collect perceptions of, and attributions for, dietary change and open‐ended responses were analysed using content analysis.

The use of mixed methods brings added breadth and depth to the research which cannot be achieved by a single discipline or method. Determining what has influenced change in dietary behaviour from adolescence to adulthood is a complex and multifaceted task. Eating habits are influenced by multiple factors throughout the life course. Change in food intake between adolescence and adulthood related to life‐course events and trajectories. The qualitative findings highlighted relevant contextual information such as themes of moral panics, the concept of “convenience” and “fresh” foods.

Adopting mixed method approaches to exploring dietary change should offer a rich perspective from which to base realistic interventions.

Longitudinal dietary surveys present an opportunity to understand the complex process of dietary change throughout the life course in terms both of how diets have changed but also of why they have changed.

Using a Constrained Choice Theory framework, this paper will identify variation in choosing the constraint-reflective priorities of budget, taste, or health by sociodemographic group, familial status, and weight category. Identifying which groups experience unique constraints will allow for customized healthy eating programs to address barriers specific to each group.

Data are derived from a paper survey of families with children in Lexington, KY and analyzed using logistic regression.

The results of this study confirm that some sociodemographic groups are more likely to choose priorities that reflect contextual constraints in their lives than others. In particular, having a higher income reduces likelihood of prioritizing budget and increases chances of prioritizing taste. Being married or cohabitating is correlated with choosing health, but having more children reduces the likelihood of prioritizing health. Being obese correlates with increased likelihood of prioritizing budget. Membership in each of these categories reflects constraints on which foods are purchased for the home.

Families are encouraged to improve their diets by eating at home, but families face many constraints when choosing healthy foods at the grocery store. Understanding the constraints experienced by various groups when shopping for food will lead to health policy that more fully addresses barriers to healthy eating for groups with disproportionately high incidence of diet-related disease.

This paper extends Constrained Choice Theory by applying it to a new aspect of health, purchasing groceries, and also by examining a wider variety of sociodemographic groups than previous research.

The paper aims to explore the food shopping and preparation responsibility in a sample of adults, average age 32.5 years.

A sample of 198 adults (81 men and 117 women) who were involved in a longitudinal dietary study self‐completed a questionnaire about their food habits. Chi‐squared analysis explored relationships between variables using SPSS (version 10). Open‐ended responses were analysed in QSR NUD*IST using a content analysis framework.

The majority of respondents were married or co‐habiting (79 per cent), 6 per cent were lone parents, 9 per cent lived alone and the remainder lived with parents and others. Significantly more women than men were responsible for food shopping and preparation (both p<0.001). Within shared households food responsibility was predominately a female dominated area, with a considerably higher proportion of women responsible for food shopping and preparation compared with men. Reasons given for this included aspects of time and work as well as women being more skilled in this task.

The study was a relatively small and homogenous sample, not necessarily representative of the wider UK population.

Identifies the enduring gender divide in food responsibility. Findings will be useful to health educators, policy planners and researchers.

In light of the recent focus on diet and health, this paper describes the reported shopping and food preparation behaviours in a sample of adults in their 30s at the beginning of a new century.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of energy consumption on the financial performance of German residential buildings in a large panel framework. The authors provide evidence that energy efficiency in the residential sector is a relevant factor affecting both tenant investment decisions and consequently the performance of investor portfolios.

Based on the IPD Database and information from the German statistical office, the authors create portfolios of buildings across several energy consumption levels in order to describe the energy pricing mechanism in the context of total return and rent price. Furthermore, the authors apply conditional and unconditional regressions over the period of 2008 and 2010, to accurately quantify the energy price premium in the German residential market.

The descriptive portfolio results show that energy‐efficient buildings yield an up to 3.15 percent higher return and 0.76 €/m² higher rent than inefficient buildings. Furthermore, the regression results indicate that a one percent decline in energy consumption affects the total return of buildings positively by +0.015 percent. The hedonic results additionally show that one percent energy conservation boosts rent prices by +0.08 percent and market value by +0.45 percent, ceteris paribus.

Overall, the study presents an alternative methodology for describing and estimating hedonic datasets and offers some initial empirical evidence on the energy price premium in German residential markets. The paper contributes to prior European studies regarding the use and implications of energy performance certificates and confirms their significant impact on residential housing performance variables.

This paper aims to decompose the value effects of green retrofits on commercial real estate. The paper disentangles various sources of value capture mechanisms that can be attained through green retrofit actions and profiles the extent to which green retrofit solutions can be effectively capitalised using transaction evidence from the Munich housing market. The insights offered can help real estate owners and investors during their ex ante analysis of future energetic retrofit investments.

The authors offer their reader both a conceptual framework and the results from an empirical analysis to identify the value effects of retrofits and the associating gains in energy efficiency. The conceptual framework theorises the different value components that a deep retrofit has to offer. The regression analysis includes a multivariate analysis of 8,928 dwellings in the Munich residential real estate market.

This study’s framework disentangles the total retrofit value effect into three components: the capitalisation of energy savings, the exposure to the value discount because of stricter standards and the value uplift because of indirect benefits (health, employee satisfaction, marketing etc.). The regression results indicate that the value gains because of energy efficiency improvements are in the range of 2.4–7.4%, while the indirect benefits and reduced exposure to stricter standards amount to another 3%.

While numerous studies have investigated the upside value effects of energy efficiency in the real estate sector, there is scant academic research which has sought to evidence the value of green retrofit solutions and the extent to which this can be capitalised. Instrumentalising the various value effects of energetic retrofit that have been identified is not straightforward. At the same time, inadequate value capture of energetic retrofit effects could delay intervention timelines or aborting of proposed retrofit actions which should be of primary concern to policymakers and stakeholders tasked with the decarbonisation of real estate assets.