Understanding what motivates people to engage in an activity and what discourages them from doing so is the first step towards increasing participation. These factors are often unique to a particular activity. A barrier/motivation inventory is a description of the influential factors that emerge across studies conducted to uncover the barriers and motivations associated with a specific activity.
Describes the primary barriers and motivations for participation in curbside and drop-off recycling programs.
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Describes the barriers and opportunities specific to recycling in multifamily buildings.
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Describes the barriers and motivations for consumer purchases of environmentally preferable products – particularly products with recycled content or less (i.e. source reduced packaging).
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Describes the barriers and motivations experienced by homeowners, lawn care service providers, hardware stores/garden centers and local boards of health in reducing pesticide use in lawn care.
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Describes the factors that influence whether or not people take action to reduce high levels of radon in their homes.
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Primary market research reports describe the results of focus group, phone survey and interview research conducted by Aceti Associates.
Describes the results of focus group research done with the top 10% of residential water users in Concord, MA. Input was sought on factors that influence residents' water consumption for lawn and garden care.
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Describes the results of interview research conducted with irrigation and landscape contractors, their trade associations and the university extension agents who provide them with training and technical assistance. Through these interviews, the Town of Concord explored the possibilities for collaborating with the landscape and irrigation industries to promote outdoor water efficiency on private property in Concord, MA.
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Describes the results of phone survey research conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Greenscapes public education program in changing landscaping behaviors among homeowners.
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Describes the results of focus group research conducted in Hamilton, MA. The research explored homeowners' perceptions of the barriers and benefits associated with specific landscaping practices, tested promotional messages and solicited ideas for motivating people to care for their lawns and gardens with less water and fewer chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
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Describes the results of interview research conducted with commercial property owners to better understand how lamp management decisions are made, how property managers get information about issues related to their work, and what factors influence them to change their management practices.
www.newmoa.org/prevention/mercury/lamprecycle/property_managers.cfm
Describes the results of focus group research conducted to improve the City of Milwaukee's understanding of the factors that influence residents' participation in curbside recycling. The research was conducted in conjunction with Staples Marketing and Mosaic Communications. Recommendations for increasing recycling participation were prepared by Aceti Associates.
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Describes the results of phone survey research conducted to improve the Tunxis Recycling Operating Committee's understanding of the factors that influence participation in curbside recycling among the residents of their thirteen member communities in Connecticut.
Report Microsoft Word Format | PDF Format
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Describes the results of interview research conducted with builders and architects to understand their experiences and the barriers and needs they face in using green building practices in their work.
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Provides an overview of waterless urinal technologies compiled by Aceti Associates. Further, describes the results of interviews conducted with facilities managers and custodians by Industrial Economics, Inc., regarding installation experience and experience with use, maintenance and repair of waterless urinals.
www.mass.gov/Eoeea/docs/eea/lbe/lbe_waterless-urinals-rpt.pdf
These proven strategies for behavior change have been tested in Massachusetts or elsewhere. Each strategy uses community-based social marketing tools to overcome a barrier or strengthen a motivation associated with a particular activity. Each strategy fact sheet specifies the barrier or motivation addressed; details the strategy itself; and describes the resources needed to carry it out. Results of prior tests indicate the potential benefits to be realized. Possibilities for testing variations of the strategy are noted.
In Concord, Massachusetts, a variety of communication techniques were used to persuade residents to reduce lawn watering and to exchange information with their neighbors about water efficient lawn care and irrigation practices.
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When signs were posted indicating the number of aluminum cans deposited each week in recycling receptacles, can recycling increased by 65% at a Minnesota University.
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In La Verne, California, distributing weekly feedback to residents via door hangers resulted in a 19% increase in the volume of recyclables set out for collection. The feedback consisted of the quantity of recyclables collected in the neighborhood and on the percentage of households participating in the program.
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When outreach volunteers in Claremont, California personally provided non-recycling neighbors with recycling information, 28% of the non-participants began recycling curbside on a weekly basis. In contrast, when recycling information was simply dropped off to another group of non-recyclers, only 12% recycled every week. Other studies have shown that the outreach volunteer strategy can also be used effectively in drop-off communities.
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Residents of Portland, Oregon who signed a commitment to recycle newspaper recycled 253% more than another group that simply had information dropped off at their door. Furthermore, the group that had made a written commitment continued to recycle more than the information-only group even after being informed that their commitment to the project was over.
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In Cambridge, Massachusetts, monetary and non-monetary incentives, combined with other behavior change tools, led public schools to increase paper recycling by 148% over a period of three years.
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In Plymouth, Massachusetts, incentives as small as a free cup of coffee were combined with other behavior change tools to build awareness and encourage employee participation in the office paper recycling program in Town Hall. Other strategy elements built commitment to the program among Town Hall custodians.
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Describes programs operated by government agencies and non-profits in the U.S. to foster the recycling of fluorescent lamps used in commercial buildings.
www.newmoa.org/prevention/mercury/lamprecycle/property_managers.cfm
Boston Green Tourism aims to help the City's convention and visitor industry grow by differentiating Boston as an environmentally appealing or "green" destination. The project involves businesses and associations in implementing a diverse array of sustainable practices.
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Describes messages and programs that increase the likelihood that people will take action to reduce high levels of radon in their homes.
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Strategy designs are detailed documents describing recommendations prepared by Aceti Associates for improving participation in an activity or program.
Lays out a new direction for the Greenscapes Coalition's efforts to promote sustainable landscaping, based upon audience research and principles of behavior change.
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In the second half of this report, Aceti Associates lays out a multi-faceted approach for increasing recycling participation in the City of Milwaukee.
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Pilot project reports are detailed documents describing strategy testing that has been conducted by government agencies, businesses and non-profits. They provide in-depth information on the procedures used, lessons learned and resources expended.
A pilot project conducted in the City of Waltham tested three different strategies that involved distributing a curbside bin decal to residents. The decal displayed photographs of recyclable items.
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Appendix B Microsoft Word Format | PDF Format
Appendix C Microsoft Word Format | PDF Format
A pilot project conducted in the Town of Dedham, MA tested the impact on recycling rates of providing feedback to residents. The feedback was conveyed via door hangers that displayed the amount of material recycled curbside in the neighborhood each collection day.
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A pilot project conducted in the Towns of Dover and Carlisle, MA attempted to measure the impact on cardboard recycling rates of providing transfer station/drop-off center users with feedback on the number of cardboard boxes recycled each week.
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A pilot project conducted in the Town of Dedham, MA tested a multifaceted outreach campaign. The campaign resulted in a 17% increase in the tonnage recycled in the pilot area during the campaign and 10.5% increase in the tonnage recycled during a 7 1/2 month follow up period.
Oakdale Campaign Pilot Report Microsoft Word Format | PDF Format
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Two pilot projects conducted in the Town of Randolph, MA in 2005 tested less expensive versions of the Oakdale Neighborhood Recycling Campaign, which was piloted in the Town of Dedham, MA in 2004.
Randolph Pilot Report Microsoft Word Format | PDF Format
Appendices Microsoft Word Format | PDF Format
It is important to supplement barrier/motivation inventories with focus group research in cases where the barriers and motivations associated with an activity are not well known or well understood. A focus group consists of six to eight residents who have been paid to discuss issues related to the activity that you are trying to promote. Focus groups can also provide useful feedback on the appeal of a proposed strategy. [This description of focus group research excerpted from: McKenzie-Mohr, D. (1999) Fostering Sustainable Behavior An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. Gabriola Island, B.C: New Society Publishers.] Municipal officials can plan and conduct focus groups using these instructions.
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Market research firms can provide focus group research services. These model bid specifications provide a starting point for developing a complete description of your own focus group research needs.
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Where possible, focus group research should be followed by a larger phone survey in order to better understand the views of the community as a whole. These model specifications provide a starting point for developing a complete description of your own phone survey research needs.
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Contracting with a consultant to evaluate your pilot project can be advantageous when data collection is time-intensive, when challenging problems must be resolved in order to develop a suitable evaluation methodology and/or when the evaluation requires statistical expertise that is not available in-house. These model specifications provide a starting point for developing a complete description of your pilot project evaluation needs.
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