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The Impact of Hydraulic Fracturing Through Communication and Personal Finance
Clayton Daniels
INTS 3300-001
Dr. Gail Bentley
Texas Tech University

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Abstract
The new energy extraction process of hydraulic fracturing has provided an influx of jobs
and has created many boom towns across the United States. This has caused significant
economic changes in those towns. Media has played a substantial role in hydraulic fracturing as
well because of its influence on people’s attitudes towards the subject. The main role of media in
hydraulic fracturing has been to broadcast stories that are framed around the negative
consequences, in particular, the environmental risks. The influence from the media has negative
effects on the people in the community’s attitude towards hydraulic fracturing and can cause
their financial health harm versus them realizing the financial benefits of a boom town economy.
The interdisciplinary research process was utilized to derive insight into the complex focus
question of how media can affect people’s attitudes in a hydraulic fracturing, boom town
community and how that will affect their financial health. The literature used is peer reviewed
and from scholarly journals. To better understand this concept more research can be conducted in
the field of financial planning on how media directly affects people financial decisions. In the
case of media sources affecting financial decisions of people in a hydraulic fracturing, boom
town community it can alter their attitude and therefore skew their financial decisions.

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This research paper utilizes the interdisciplinary research process to synthesize insight
about a complex problem. Synthesizing literature from the two disciplines of communication
studies and personal financial planning a comprehensive understanding of how media affects
people’s attitudes in the community and how that affects their financial health can be achieved.
Step 1: State the Focus Question
The question of how hydraulic fracturing affects communities has been a long-standing
question of scholars ever since the process’ implementation as an energy extraction technique.
There is an abundance of information that is being communicated by media sources to the public
about hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as oil fracking. The manner in which media
sources choose to communicate fracking information through the theory of framing will have a
large impact on the viewers and their attitude towards the subject (Shen, Ahern, & Baker, 2014).
According to Chaffee (1996), Americans actively search for information through media sources.
Therefore, the media will have an impact on the knowledge of the citizens in the community and
their attitudes on fracking.
Furthermore, hydraulic fracturing has created resource dependent towns, or
“boomtowns,” as the result of a large increase in employment opportunities (Sovacool, 2014).
Lawrie, Tonts, & Plummer (2012) found that in boomtowns there are several different economic
aspects that are affected, including higher leasing costs, and an increase of price in the housing
market. The price of natural gas or energy will lower with the increase of natural gas extraction
through fracking as well (Sovacool, 2014). These economic changes will affect people in the
community based on their attitude toward fracking and how the individual decides to plan for
economic changes financially.

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In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of how hydraulic fracturing will affect
people in the community it can be stated in the form of a focus question: How will media affect
the attitudes and views of people in a hydraulic fracturing boomtown community, and in turn
how will their views affect their financial health? One may implement the use of the
interdisciplinary research process to derive a broader understanding of hydraulic fracturing and
its effects on the communities at the hub of the action.
Step 2: Justify Using an Interdisciplinary Approach
Hydraulic fracturing has many different facets and, therefore, has a broad range of
ramifications. One may deduce that the stated focus question is complex and requires using the
interdisciplinary research process. According to Repko (2012) one may justify using an
interdisciplinary research process with four pieces of criteria, and this study is justified by three
of the criteria. First: The problem or question is complex. The focus question stated is complex
and must be examined through multiple lenses to form a comprehensive understanding. Second:
The focus question meets the criteria for the interdisciplinary research process because there are
important insights and theories of the problem that are offered by two or more disciplines. To
develop an understanding of how media will affect the attitudes of people in the community the
theory of framing must be utilized from the perspective of Communication Studies. To have
knowledge of how the attitudes of the people in the community will affect their financial health,
insight must be drawn from Personal Financial Planning. Third: It is apparent that
Communication Studies or Personal Financial Planning alone cannot address the problem
comprehensively.

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Step 3: Identify Relevant Disciplines
The scope of the focus question is vast and encompasses insights from a number of
different disciplines. “Disciplines are academic communities that exhibit a disciplinary
perspective which involves preferences regarding phenomenon to study and theories and
methods to use, shared terminology called concepts, and epistemological and ethical and
ideological outlooks” (Repko, 2012, p. 94). This step will identify potentially relevant disciplines
and how they are linked to the problem, and then narrow the focus down to two disciplines that
will be most relevant to offering insight to the focus question stated.
Economics offers relevant perspective to the focus question. Economics examines the
financial changes that are taking place in the community. It also gives understanding to how an
influx of resources in the area will affect the market and prices. Although economics provides
relevant insight into how prices will fluctuate between certain markets, economics cannot give
one a comprehensive understanding of how problems related to fracking will affect the financial
health of people in fracking communities.
Psychology is relevant to the focus question by providing insight into how the attitudes
and views of people in a fracking community are formed and how these views may affect
everyday life. Psychology offers theories to explain how the mind works and affects it will have
on people and their decisions. Although Psychology is relevant, it does not provide full
knowledge of the way people’s attitudes in the community will affect their financial health.
The most relevant disciplines to the focus question, that offer insight and theories, and
that provide a scholarly understanding, are Communication Studies and Personal Financial
Planning. These two disciplines will be utilized when examining the focus question.
Communication Studies offers perspective to what information is being communicated to the

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people in the oil fracking community and how the different forms of communication will have an
effect on different individuals. It is important to have insight into how information streams will
affect the people of the community, more so than the information itself. Communication Studies
offers theories and insight that suggests the way in which information is presented is just as
important as the content that is being presented, which will be crucial to understanding the true
value of the information the people in the community are being subjected to. Personal Financial
Planning will give direct insight into how the attitudes and values of the people in the community
will affect their financial decisions and financial health. Personal Financial Planning is an
interdisciplinary field in itself, because it offers insight into how the psychological state of a
person will affect their financial decisions, and at the same time offers insight into how financial
decisions will affect the individual’s financial health through examination of numbers and
financial ratios. Utilizing scholarly research from Communication Studies and Personal Financial
Planning will produce a comprehensive understanding of how media will affect the attitudes of
people in a hydraulic fracturing boomtown, and how attitudes toward fracking will affect the
individual’s financial health.
Step 4: Conduct a Literature Search
The literature search for this particular focus question is difficult because Personal
Financial Planning is an emerging discipline as well as an Interdisciplinary field. Therefore,
literature that will develop the Personal Financial Planning perspective will come out of
scholarly journals found in different disciplines such as Economics, Finance, and Psychology.
According to Schafft (2013), people in the community of a boomtown can experience benefits
through leasing. The influx of jobs and workers in the area creates a huge need for housing and
lodging—causing a rise in home and apartment prices. A study that was based on resource

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dependent communities, that are boomtowns, shows a rise in rental price as well as housing.
These benefits can be realized by individuals who lease or sale property in the area. Another
economic benefit that can be experienced by the people of the community is job opportunities
and lower natural gas prices (Sovacool, 2014).
The majority of literature that strengthens the Communication Studies perspective will
come directly from scholarly journals found in the Communication Studies discipline, although
some of the theories that are utilized in Communication Studies can be found more specifically
defined in the discipline of media and communication. Regardless of what discipline the
literature is associated with it will be used to develop a stronger insight of Communication
Studies. Media sources use framing to portray stories and information from a certain perspective.
There is substantial evidence of media sources using framing when conducting news coverage
about the topic of hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, there is a trend in the media of framing
hydraulic fracturing around risks, versus the benefits, with environmental risk being a
reoccurring theme (Mercado & Herranz, 2014). Framing plays a significant role in changing the
attitudes of the media source’s viewers on hydraulic fracturing. The attitudes of the people
towards hydraulic fracturing can be changed through framing—by word choice alone. People are
more likely to be supportive of the energy extraction process of hydraulic fracturing if it is
referred to as “shale gas development” as opposed to “fracking.” This suggests that the term
fracking has a negative connotation behind it (Clarke, Hart, Schuldt, Evensen, Boudet, Jacquet,
& Stedman, 2015). There are different ways to communicate information and this is an important
aspect of framing. Framing in informational versus narrative, and negative consequences versus
benefits has a substantial effect on the viewer’s attitudes and feelings toward the topic. Narrative
news focusing on the negative consequences of a topic evokes the most empathetic and

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supportive responses (Shen, Ahern, & Baker, 2014). Some forms of media sources or news will
have an effect on the majority of Americans. Americans actively search for information from the
media through the newspaper and news broadcasted on the television (Chaffee, & Frank, 1996).
Using these perspectives and existing knowledge we will be able to address the problem.
Step 5: Developing Adequacy
The interdisciplinary research process requires that adequacy in the disciplines be
achieved. According to Repko (2012), the fewer the disciplines the more depth is necessary to
synthesize them and answer the complex problem. To accomplish sufficient adequacy in the two
disciplines that best serve to answer the focus question, there needs to be a comprehensive
understanding of their major theories, key concepts, and research methods.
Communication Studies views the problem through the lens of how human
communication takes place, how the information is being transmitted from one person to
another, and how that specific form of communication will be processed by the receiver. There
are a number of theories within Communication Studies that help us understand this interaction
and its effects. Media sources will use framing, a persuasive technique, to evoke empathy from
their viewers (Shen, Ahern, & Baker, 2014). Framing occurs when one side of the story is
exaggerated, using different communication techniques, in order to have a certain impact on the
attitudes of the receiver. An example would be using word choice, narratives, or fear appeal.
Another theory that plays a substantial role in communication, and more specifically the media,
is confirmation bias. This is a phenomenon where people tend to listen to sources of media that
confirm what they currently believe, rather than a source that challenges it. The same problem
that is presented within confirmation bias is also present within framing, because not all of the

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information is always being communicated, and misinformation is also being communicated
within the content of the message.
A sub-discipline of Communication Studies that will play a significant role in answering
our focus question is persuasion. Persuasion is a sub-discipline of Communication Studies
because it is not a discipline, theory, or phenomenon in itself, but it encompasses many
communication theories and phenomenon that support its perspective. Persuasion is an
applicable tool of Communication Studies because it plays a prime role in the delivery of
information and the affect is has on the receiver who is processing the information. These
concepts, among others from the discipline of Communication Studies, will play a key role in
understanding how the attitudes and views of the people in the hydraulic fracturing—
boomtown—community will be affected by media sources. With this understanding, one may
synthesize our knowledge of Communication Studies and Personal Financial Planning to derive
conclusions about how their financial health will be affected.
Personal Financial Planning will play a crucial role in understanding the focus question.
“Personal finance is the study of personal and family resources considered important in
achieving financial success; it involves how people spend, save, protect, and invest their
financial resources” (Garman & Forgue, 2012, p. 4). By examining people’s values and
perspectives on money an understanding of how this will affect their financial decisions can be
achieved. Looking at a number of economic and financial changes due to a boomtown economy,
one may predict how people will react based off of their attitude and values. Personal Financial
Planning utilizes numbers and financial ratios to understand someone’s financial health, and with
counseling identifies their values and uses them to create financial goals. Personal Financial

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Planning uses quantitative and qualitative research to derive understanding of personal finance.
Both of the two disciplines will be used to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the problem.
Step 6: Analyze the Problem and Evaluate Each Insight or Theory
The purpose of Step 6 is to “view the problem through the lens of each relevant
discipline, comparing their perspectives and determining their strengths and limitations, and then
evaluate each disciplines insights into the problem and reveal their strengths and limitations”
(Repko, 2012, p. 224).
The perspectives from Communication Studies are being utilized to examine the focus
question. This will derive understanding of how information on hydraulic fracturing is being
processed by people in the community. Understanding how the information is being transmitted
is crucial to answering the question of how the information is being received and processed and
the affects that it has on the attitudes and views of people. The strength of using Communication
Studies is in how it deals with the communication of information and the effects it has on
individuals, which will give understanding to the attitudes of the people in the community. The
weakness of using Communication Studies is that it lacks certain psychological factors that could
influence the people’s attitude and views in the community. Another weakness of
Communication Studies is cultural differences. Although it does address culture in many of the
topics of communication, some of the topics of Communication Studies are exclusive to
American culture. Aside from the two afore mentioned setbacks Communication Studies will be
the most helpful to derive a comprehensive understanding of the focus question.
The most influential theory from Communication Studies related to the media
transmitting information about hydraulic fracturing is framing. In almost every case of the media
reporting about hydraulic fracturing framing was involved. The majority of news reports about

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hydraulic fracturing involve framing it in line with negative consequences. Of these negative
consequences environmental risk was a trend found in news reports with the topic of hydraulic
fracturing (Mercado & Herranz, 2014). In the largest examined case of hydraulic fracturing in
the United States, the Marcellus shale region, there are specific instances of framing and the
affects it had on people’s decisions to make policy (Smith & Ferguson, 2013). There is
substantial evidence one may see that the media sources utilizes framing when disusing
hydraulic fracturing.
The next question we need answered through the perspective of Communication Studies
is: What affect does framing have on the people’s attitudes in the boomtown community, if any,
and is it substantial? Framing has different ways of working to communicate a message. One of
the simpler factors in framing that causes a huge effect on the attitudes of the receiver is word
choice—because of word connotation. According to Clarke, Hart, Shuldt, Evensen, Boudet,
Jacquet, and Stedman (2015), people are more likely to support the energy extraction process of
hydraulic fracturing if it is referred to as “shale gas development,” as opposed to “fracking.”
Another way that framing takes effect in transmitting information about hydraulic fracturing is
through the style in which the information is transmitted. The findings of Shen, Ahern, and
Baker (2014), support that if the information is being presented through narrative there is a
stronger affect than if it is presented in an informational form, also whether it is presented with
the benefits versus the consequences has substantial affect on an individual’s perception of and
attitude toward hydraulic fracturing. Information that is being framed in a narrative form, with
negative consequences, draws the greatest emotional response. This means that the majority of
the information being transmitted by media sources, which is being framed within the negative
consequences of hydraulic fracturing, is going to have a substantial impact on the people in the

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boomtown community. The impact of the negative consequences will have a greater influence on
the people in the community than the benefits. This is an important conclusion that helps bring
understanding to our focus question. One may synthesize this information and the discipline of
Personal Financial Planning to understand the financial decisions the people in the community
could be making.
Using the perspective of Personal Financial Planning is crucial to understanding the
aspect of our focus question that deals with the financial decisions of the people in the boomtown
community and the affect it will have on their financial health. Using the discipline of Personal
Financial Planning has its benefits. It is an interdisciplinary field which gives us access to a large
number of perspectives and literature from other disciplines. Utilizing this discipline is crucial to
understanding a person’s values and financial goals, and work financial ratios, which will
explain their financial health.
There are several economic changes in a hydraulic fracturing boomtown economy that
will have effect on the people’s financial wellbeing. In order for these economic changes to
affect the people in the community, they will have to directly relate to their budgeted expenses or
income. According to Sovacool (2014), in areas of shale gas development, the price of natural
gas is significantly cheaper. Some areas are far more dependent on energy from natural gas than
others. For instance, in North America, they have long winters and if you have a gas heater, as
opposed to an electric heater, then you could substantially benefit from the lower cost of natural
gas. Another factor is whether you make use of a gas or electric water heater.
The creation of high paying jobs is another economic factor that will play a role into
answering our focus question. Depending on the persons career they may or may not be able to

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benefit directly from the increase in job opportunities. Any manual laborer in the area could
possibly take advantage of better wages through a job in the oil field.
Another economic change that will have an effect on people in the town is the rise in
leasing costs and housing prices (Schafft, 2013). This is a common economic change in
hydraulic fracturing boomtowns and it can have a positive or negative effect depending on if you
are a land owner or not. The rise in housing costs will hurt the financial health of renters only.
Especially the renters that are not able to incur the benefits of new job opportunities with
increases wages. On the other side it will benefit land owners especially ones that are looking to
put their house on the market.
Step 7: Identify Conflict Between Insights and Their Sources
When taking an interdisciplinary approach, which is warrant by the complex
problem, conflict can arise within your discipline and literature. These conflicts are often a
product of the different perspective that each discipline take. According to Repko (2012) it is
necessary to identify these conflicts because they interfere with establishing common ground
which is critical to integration. When using Communication Studies to better understand a
complex problem it can be difficult because the vastness of theories. In order to avoid this
conflict the focus question only considers communication through media sources and news
outlets. This will void a number of theories and situations where interpersonal and other types of
communication could affect their values. For instance, Standpoint Theory, concerns the authority
generated by people knowledge and the affect that has to shape people opinions (Craig, 1999).
This could obstruct how media will affect the family’s views by taking in account the
misinformation that could be passed off as knowledge and in turn affect their opinion of the

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matter. This conflict was avoided as much as possible by narrowing the focus of my literature
search and finding theories that are only relevant to media and news outlets, such as framing.
Some basic assumptions of Personal Financial Planning and Communication Studies
come into conflict. Personal Financial Planning uses counseling in order to examine the client or
family’s values because they assume that values are what will determine their decision (Garman
& Forgue, 2012), . Communication Studies presents a theory that will reject this idea. Cognitive
dissonance supports the idea that you can hold two or more contradictory beliefs and in order to
ease the discomfort this creates you justify it (Craig, 1999). If we applied this theory to a
financial planning situation then we could say that even though the family holds their child’s
education high in terms of value they could still chose to spend their money on something else
they value that would contradict the idea of saving for college. For instance they could be really
bad cooks and so they value eating out every night. They justify this by saying that they need to
feed their children good food even though they cannot budget to do so and at the same time save
for their child’s college fund.
Another place conflict often arises is within the literature. The literature search brought to
light other conflicts. One of the conflicts in the literature was using different terms for the same
meaning. Each article used a different term when talking about hydraulic fracturing. The terms
used in its place were fracking, shale gas development, and natural gas extraction.
Step 8: Creating Common Ground
According to Repko (2012) there are four techniques to creating common ground, a
critical step in integration. The conflict that is identified within my literature can be remedied
using the technique of redefinition to create common ground. Therefore fracking, shale gas

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development, and natural gas extraction are terms that all mean the same thing, hydraulic
fracturing.
In order to create common ground between disciplinary insights the technique of
organization will be utilized (Repko 2012). Organization will map out the insights of each
discipline and show how they interact, overlap and conflict with each other. Personal Financial
Planning uses mathematics and financial ratios to understand someone’s financial health. This
does not interact with communication in any way. Communication is a social science that cannot
be explained using numerical values. However communication interacts with Personal Financial
Planning as it does many other disciplines. A sub discipline of Personal Financial Planning is
counseling. Counseling involves many aspects of communication and more specifically
interpersonal communication. Personal Financial Planning could not exist without the strong
relationship with communication.
Step 9: Construct a More Comprehensive Understanding
The perspectives utilized to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the focus
problem are synthesized in Step 9. According to Chaffe (1996), people in the community will
actively search for information on hydraulic fracturing through media sources. Media sources
will use framing to portray the negative consequences particularly the environmental risk of
hydraulic fracturing versus the benefits (Mercado & Herranz, 2014). This will cause the people
in the community to side more strongly with negative aspects of hydraulic fracturing even if they
are exposed to the benefits because negative consequences cause a stronger reaction to stories
than the benefits (Shen, Ahern, & Baker, 2014). Furthermore the term fracking is often used by
media sources which has a negative connation for viewers and is substantially less likely to

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acquire support for hydraulic fracturing than the term shale gas development (Clarke, Hart,
Schuldt, Evensen, Boudet, Jacquet, & Stedman, 2015).
At the same time Sovacool (2014) supports that the hydraulic fracturing boomtown can
exhibit economic benefits such as the creation of jobs. This benefit cannot be realized if the
people the community do not support the process of hydraulic fracturing. Also, the price of
natural gas in these communities will significantly decrease. These benefits will be realized by
people in the communities that are in the North and experience the long winters because their gas
bill will encompass the majority of their energy needs. The benefits can also be realized by
people in the community that run businesses that use a large amount of natural gas (Sovacool,
2014).
According to Lawrie, Tonts, & Plummer (2011), rental costs in the community of a
boomtown will go up a long side with the pricing on the housing market. This can tarnish the
financial health of renters in the community if they are not realizing the benefits of higher wages
or lower energy costs due to the boomtown economy. However, homeowners who are looking to
put their house on the market and land lords will benefit from the boomtown economy. Schafft
(2013) supports that there are financial benefits through leasing property in a hydraulic fracturing
boomtown economy. These benefits also cannot be realized if the land lord refuses to support
hydraulic fracturing and refuses to allow new renters who are moving for business. In
conclusion, people in the community that will be influenced by media sources and not support
hydraulic fracturing because of it will not be able to realize the full financial benefits of a
boomtown economy and their financial health can in turn suffer, particularly renters versus land
owners. The homeowners and land lords in the community that support hydraulic fracturing will
have a greater chance of taking advantage of the benefits and profiting to improve their financial

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health. Renters who support hydraulic fracturing and realize the benefits can minimize their loss
due to rent prices rising.
Step 10: Communicating the Results
The interdisciplinary research process has brought insight to our complex problem: How
will media affect the attitudes and views of people in a hydraulic fracturing boomtown
community and in turn how that will affect their financial health? The literature and existing
knowledge on hydraulic fracturing supports that the media will frame news stories about
hydraulic fracturing around the negative consequences, highlighting the environmental risks
which will evoke the strongest response from their viewers. These feelings will hinder people’s
ability to make educated financial decisions and has the potential to harm their financial health.
If media sources are not recognized by people in the community they have a better chance of
profiting from the boom town economy or minimizing their losses due to certain economic
changes.
This study’s validity has the opportunity to be strengthened as the emerging discipline of
personal financial planning grows. More research in the field of personal financial planning
would be useful when developing the interdisciplinary research process for this question. After
seeing the effects of media on attitudes and in turn financial decisions more research is welcome
in this topic of discussion. This would help explain further how media directly affects people
financial decisions positively and negatively. The knowledge derived from the interdisciplinary
process is applicable to certified financial planners knowing that media sources can affect their
client’s attitudes and financial goals and decisions.

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