Increase Citizen Involvement Using Target Audience Information
Changing Public Behavior web resources are designed for scientists, natural resource professionals, and educators who want to develop and use audience information to improve residents’ involvement in community decisions about natural resources, and especially concerning water. Use these resources to help you apply education and social science research in new and creative ways to encourage the public to adopt environmentally-friendly habits.
Community involvement is the key
Tools and resources help educators to . . .
Community involvement
Community involvement, whether it is a geographic community or a community of shared interests, is the key to successfully implementing plans for natural resource management initiatives, such as clean and safe water. But implementing outreach techniques that lead to measurable impacts is not a simple or straight-forward process. Natural resource professionals and environmental educators may have little experience in how to use social science tools to better understand and relate to audience needs.
Changing Public Behavior tools and training materials help educators:
- Assess personal accomplishment of skills helpful in facilitating behavior change
- Analyze social components of particular environmental situations.
- Choose which indicators to use to measure change.
- Use assessment data to select a strategy that is most likely to lead to desired outcomes.
Explore navigation pages
Explore Target Audiences and Learning More navigation pages to discover answers to these questions and more:
- How do I get started ?
- What tools should I use to gather social science information?
- How do I use the tools and analyze results?
- How do I use these results to select outreach techniques that satisfy audience needs?
About Research explains the process we used to identify and analyze research about specific audiences.
Search Research Findings enables you to review research findings from 1988-2007 to learn what research says about your specific audience and situation.
CPB Basics links you to answers for creating and using social science information
CPB Self-Study Modules walk you through 7 Steps for increasing people’s involvement in natural resource management by using target audience information.
CPB Workshops provides the handouts used with in-person study groups.
CPB Bibliography provides a summary of all the resources cited in this section of the website.
Project Information
Project Summary
The Changing Public Behavior Project and resources are based upon work supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2006-51130-03749.
