Expansion of a survey tool to measure behavior change and impacts within watersheds

Expansion of a survey tool to measure behavior change and impacts within watersheds

For over 30 years, citizen science organizations have been a trusted voice and advocate for the health of tributary watersheds to Chesapeake Bay. By engaging citizens in promoting specific Bay friendly actions, these clean water advocates have hoped to improve Bay water quality. However, no comprehensive assessment had been conducted to establish a baseline of current behaviors or measure behavior change. The probability that key stewardship behaviors are occurring and the likelihood that those behaviors will be adopted in the future was the focus of the last year's work. The current project will expand the survey tool that clean water advocates can tailor as needed in order to quantify the use of specific behaviors in their audience. The expansion will increase the reach of the survey, increase the number of key behaviors included in the survey, evaluate the impact of these key stewardship behaviors on Chesapeake Bay restoration, and provide in-depth analysis of the results of the survey. In partnership with OpinionWorks, LLC and other key organizations, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) Integration and Application Network (IAN) is pleased to present this proposal to expand a behavior survey tool that will help evaluate the impact of behaviors on Chesapeake Bay restoration and analyze key behaviors in the watershed currently and in future years.

 

Key Personnel

Caroline Donovan
Program Manager
Heath Kelsey
IAN Director
Suzanne Webster
Graduate Student
Alexandra Fries
Program Manager

Timeframe

  • Start: 2014-04-01
  • Finish: 2015-12-31
  • Duration: 1 year, 8 months