shirey poster presentation 2011

Designing for Behavior ChangeIdentifying communication design components that encourage and empower individuals to act in environmentally-responsible ways

Jenny Shirey, CPID Master of Design 2011 candidate Carnegie Mellon UniversityThesis Poster PresentationApril 14, 2011

Designing for Behavior Change: Poster Presentation Jenny Shirey, Carnegie Mellon University, April 14, 2011

Context Exploratory RoadmapGenerative Future

Designing for behavior change

Problem

knowledge gapCOMMUNICATION

DESIGNENVIRONMENTAL

PSYCHOLOGY

Context



Bridging the gap

My goal is to close the knowledge gap by connecting communication designers with insights and methods to encourage environmentally-responsible habits

Context



Case study: bottled water

Potential for change

» Opportunity to increase awareness

» Individual behavior change makes sense

Exploratory



Audience: 25- to 40-year-old adults

Potential for change

» Didn’t grow up with same emphasis on being “green” as today’s children

» Being eco-friendly isn’t their first priority

» Generally willing to help out and try new behaviors

Exploratory



Exploratory research

Research toward generalizable knowledge

Exploratory

» One-week journal study

» Contextual interviews

» Varying responses to tone and subject matter of images & texts



Generative research

Study question

» How does a communication piece affect a person’s behavior when matched to interests, learning style, and preferred emotional tone?

Generative



Communication piece

Variables

Interactive

Video

or

Learning style

or

or

Humorous

Matter-of-fact

Dramatic

Emotional tone

or

or

Animals

Waste

Money

Interests

Generative



Communication piece

Variables

Video

Humorous

Waste

Generative



Track bottled water

Track bottled water

Track bottled water

Answer YES

Answer NO

ArtifactPre-survey COMMIT?

Interview

Interview

MATCHED

1 WEEK

1 WEEK

1 WEEK

Two-week study

Study flow

Generative



Generative research

Resulting behavior change

Said the piece changed their feelings

Committed to not drinking bottled water for 1 week

Drank less bottled water (week 2)

Didn’t drink any bottled water (week 2)

YES

YES

YES

YES

Generative



Study results

Findings

» Changing feelings led to behavior change

» Tracking primed participants for change

» One-week commitment encouraged people to try the new behavior

» Easy action plan

» Follow up study: mismatching: no indication that matching affected behavior (narrative too similar?)

Generative



Final design

Gathering findings

» Observations and ideas for practical application

» Design roadmap: a tool for communication designers

Roadmap

ETHICALPRINCIPLES


Context Exploratory RoadmapGenerative FutureRoadmap

DESIGN SHOULD BE:

Transparent Empowering Caring Open-minded Humble

Guiding

OBSERVATIONS

ETHICALPRINCIPLES



OBSERVATION EXAMPLE:Educational campaigns work well in some situations and poorly in others

APPLICATION IDEAS

Guiding

OBSERVATIONS

ETHICALPRINCIPLES



APPLICATION EXAMPLE:Decide whether you need to combine an educational campaign with other methods

Roadmap

Def ning opportunities & constraints

OBSERVATIONS

APPLICATION IDEAS

Crafting the design

Discovering needs, desires, & exp

ectationsEnc

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blin

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havi

or c

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e

Framing the message

ETHICALPRINCIPLES



STRUCTURE:

Five phases of an ideal communication design process


OBSERVATIONS

APPLICATION IDEAS

Crafting the design


ectationsEnc

oura

gin

g &

ena

blin

g be

havi

or c

hang

e

Framing the message

ETHICALPRINCIPLES



POINTS OF ENTRY:Questions to ask before exiting and entering each phase

Roadmap

Roadmap


OBSERVATIONS

APPLICATION IDEAS

Crafting the design


ectationsEnc

oura

gin

g &

ena

blin

g be

havi

or c

hang

e

Framing the message

ETHICALPRINCIPLES



CATEGORIES:

Roadmap

C

CC C

C

I I

II

I

II

II

II

I

II

I

II

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

B

E

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EE

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EE

EE

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EE

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E E

B

B

E E

C

B

B

BB

B B

B B

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Emotions

Behaviors

Context

Knowledge, information

Guiding observation

Consider the context of your audienceDiscovering Framing Crafting EnablingDefining

Educational campaigns work well in some situations and poorly in others

Educational campaigns work best with behaviors that are low-cost and simple to do. If the behavior is very expensive or time-consuming, or participants have to overcome major external barriers, an education approach alone will usually be ineffective.

Personal ObservationsFor my studies, I focused on the issue of bottled water. Because most people were unaware of bottled water’s harmful effects, and because drinking tap water is a low-cost, easy behavior, I chose to create educational campaigns.

Some of my participants, though, said their tap water at home was not safe. Although this could have been a misconception, if true, this was an external barrier that would require methods in addition to education. For example, my participants might need to buy a water filter; or the city might need a better filtration system or stricter anti-pollution regulations.

Where can I find out more?Gardner, Gerald T., and Paul C. Stern. “Educational Inter-ventions: Changing Attitudes and Providing Information.” In Environmental Problems and Human Behavior, 71–94. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996.

McKenzie-Mohr, Doug. “Promoting Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing.” Journal of Social Issues 56, no. 3 (2000): 543-554.

Schultz, P. Wesley. “Knowledge, Information, and Household Recycling.” In New Tools for Environmental Protection: Education, Information, and Voluntary Measures, edited by Thomas Dietz and Paul C. Stern, by National Research Council, 67-82. 1st ed. Washington DC: National Academy Press, 2002.

How can I put this into practice?

“Education approaches work only when the main barriers to action are internal to the individual.”

—Gardner & Stern, page 92

“...conventional wisdom [...] is over simplified and misleading. The research shows that education can help but [is] rarely sufficient.”

—Gardner & Stern, page 72

Research barriers for the behavior you’re addressing

Decide whether you need to combine an educational campaign with other methods

C

I

I



Sample page

Observation

Findings from my research studies

Application idea

Quotes

Resources


Context Exploratory RoadmapGenerative FutureFuture

Final thoughts

Potential impact

» Closes the knowledge gap

» Gives communication designers practical tips for behavior change

» Provides ethical principles to use when designing for behavior change

» Might be useful for other types of behavior change


Context Exploratory RoadmapGenerative FutureFuture

For future research

» What are effects of varying the narrative structure of a communication piece?

» Develop ethical principles further

» Test the Roadmap with my audience

shirey poster presentation 2011

Documents

change opportunity

change didnt

responsible waysjenny

bottled water week

new behavior easy action

bottled waterpotential

drinkingyesbottled water

week commitment