A Guide to Assessing Conservation Behavior Change for Visitors of the National Aquarium in

Baltimore Prepared by:

Shareese Williams, Kevin Jones, Ben Crenca,

Tiana Milburn, & Marian de Almeida

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT2kJZxz4G4

Racing Extinction (Discovery Channel, 2015)

Captain Planet - PSA

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dtu1ddm5e0

How did those make you feel?

Agenda

❖ Scope of Project

❖ Methods of Data Collection

❖ Results

❖ Recommendations

❖ Implementation

❖ Limitations

❖ Discussion

Scope of the Project

❖ Collect data on conservation behavior change strategies through evaluation of current literature and stakeholder interviews

❖ Selecting appropriate conservation behaviors for change

❖ Assessing effectiveness of behavior change strategies

Topics to Address

❖ Identifying barriers to selecting appropriate conservation change behaviors for the NA

❖ Determining criteria for conservation behavior success

❖ Recommending methods for assessing the success of conservation change campaigns

Methodology

❖ Two methods:

➢ Literature Review

■ Keywords: evaluating change programs, models of change, barriers to change, etc.

➢ Interviews

■ Three Interviews/meetings in total

Results - Interviews

Common Themes

➢ Effective assessments of change strategies

➢ Additional methods for selection

➢ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

➢ Criteria for success

Results - Literature Review

Literature Review Themes: Models of Behavior Change

❖ McKenzie-Mohr’s (2000) Community Based Social Marketing

❖ Prochaska’s (1986) Transtheoretical Model

Transtheoretical Model

Literature Review Themes: Selecting Behaviors

❖ To select appropriate conservation behaviors, behaviors must be:➢ Nondivisible and end state➢ Have high impact and high probability➢ Have low penetration

Literature Review Themes: Identifying Barriers

❖ Audience Selection➢ Knowledge➢ Attitudes➢ Motivation

Literature Review Themes: Monitoring and Evaluation

❖ Types of Assessments➢ Focus groups➢ Interviews➢ Critical incidents

Recommendation One ❖ Identifying barriers through survey/polls/focus groups to create visitor

profiles

➢ Twitter polls/surveys (example on upcoming slide)

➢ AT&T #ItCanWait Campaign

❖ Strengths:

➢ Wide reaching

❖ Weaknesses:

➢ Inundation, audience limitations

Twitter Polls

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/everything-you-need-know-new-twitter-polls-feature-ennis-o-connor?trkSplashRedir=true&forceNoSplash=true

Recommendation Two

❖ Setting criteria of success

➢ Creates benchmarks to determine success

❖ Strengths:

➢ Provides a baseline

❖ Weaknesses:

➢ Needs to be tailored to specific audience and behavior(s).

Recommendation Three

❖ Evaluating change through critical incidents

➢ 1 positive and 1 negative experience at the NA

➢ Assess limitations and benefits of exhibits

❖ Strengths:

➢ Good indicator of knowledge and attitudes

❖ Weaknesses:

➢ Misguided information

Recommendation Three Cont.

❖ Evaluating change through diaries

➢ Paper or electronic

➢ Nielsen ratings methodology

❖ Strengths:

➢ Insight into post NA visit behavior

❖ Weaknesses:

➢ Subjective, difficult to verify

Implementation

Limitations

❖ Change is dependent on visitors.

❖ Information gathered by surveys/in focus groups is subjective and may be unverifiable.

❖ Larger interviewee sample would have increased confidence in opinions presented.

❖ Reviewed literature spanned many sources and topics unrelated to conservation.

Discussion❖ Benefits of Recommendations:

➢ Visitor profiles and associated barriers

■ Casting a wider net.

■ Insight into perceived barriers for each profile described.

➢ Setting criteria for success

■ Makes goals/expectations salient.

■ Allows for baseline measurement to later compare against results.

Discussion cont’d.➢ Critical Incidents

■ Sense of visitor satisfaction at time of visit.

■ Sets benchmarks.

➢ Diaries

■ Allows for follow-up on behavior change campaign success.

■ Serves as a reminder to engage in conservation behaviors.

Discussion cont’d.

❖ Drawbacks of recommendations:

➢ Requires training of staff.

➢ Time/resources needed for focus group facilitation.

➢ Cost of diary creation/tracking.

➢ Dependent on visitor participation.

Resources AT&T (2013, Apr 12). AT&T Don’t text while driving documentary: AT&T [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dht-Vy25jPs.

Discovery Channel (2015, Nov 5). Racing extinction: Premieres December 2nd at 9/8c [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT2kJZxz4G4.

Gardolsenweb (2010, Oct 15). Captain Planet PSA [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dtu1ddm5e0

McKenzie-Mohr, D. (2000). Fostering sustainable behavior through community-based social marketing. American Psychologist, 55, 531-537.

Rakowski, W., Ehrich, B., Goldstein, M. G., Rimer, B. K., Pearlman, D. N., Clark, M. A., ... & Woolverton, H. (1998). Increasing mammography among women aged 40–74 by use of a stage-matched, tailored intervention. Preventive Medicine, 27, 748-756.