Exploring Environmental Knowledge Attitude and Behavior of Secondary Students in Sarawak Malaysia
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2004 Exploring environmental knowledge attitude and behavior of secondary students in Sarawak Malaysia Shazali Johari The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Johari, Shazali, "Exploring environmental knowledge attitude and behavior of secondary students in Sarawak Malaysia" (2004). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4792. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4792 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. 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Exploring Environmental Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior Of Secondary Students in Sarawak, Malaysia by Shazali Johari B.S., Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1997 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science The University of Montana 2004 Approved by: Chairman Dean, Graduate School Date UMI Number: EP40256 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI EP40256 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQ uest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Johari, S., M.S., December, 2004. Recreation Management Exploring environmental knowledge, attitude and behavior of Secondary Students in Sarawak, Malaysia. Chairperson: R. Neil Moisey In Sarawak Environmental Education Program, environmental knowledge, attitudes and behavior were studied with a sample of 303 students (aged 15 years) from 7 secondary schools. 61.2 percent of the 9th Grade students had broad attitude scores ranging from positive to strongly positive toward the environment and 55.8 percent of students had a positive to a strongly positive attitude on attitudes toward specific local environmental issues towards the environment. In students’ knowledge, the average number of questions that the students answered correctly was 68.5 percent in the ecological knowledge and 60.3 percent in the environmental knowledge. The environmental behavior of many of the students was inadequate. The relationships between environmental knowledge, attitudes and behavior proved to be weak. There was a substantial relationship between environmental attitude, environmental awareness, and environmental behavior. Environmental behavior was more strongly connected with involvement than with total attitude toward the environment. Socio-demographics seem to play an important role affecting behavior, especially schools. Miri College showed the highest scores for knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. It is interesting that there was no significant difference between the environmental knowledge scores of males and females. But female students were found to have more positive attitudes towards nature and the environment than male students. Female students were more involved with environmental activities organized at their school level and male students were more involved with activities outside school. Father’s profession also contributes to a high degree of students' environmental knowledge. Acknowledgments I would like to gratefully acknowledge the patience, advice, and guidance of Dr. Neil Moisey, Dr. Bill Borrie, and Dr. Fletcher Brown. I could not have had a better combination of advisors. Throughout the process of research and writing, they were always willing to lead comment and support to my efforts. Their questions enabled me to keep a clear perspective as well as a critical eye. Furthermore, they were flexible and accommodating during this process, enabling me to complete my work within what were often difficult time constraints. I would like to offer a special thanks to Dr. Neil Moisey. He has served as an advisor not only on this project but also throughout my studies at the University of Montana, and beyond. He has been both a friend and an example, and I consider him a mentor in my field. His guidance has permitted me to pursue my goals as fellow explorer and teacher. I am truly indebted to him. I would also like to thank all my friends and fellow students for their unending moral support and motivation. In particular, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Jeff Nirider for his faithful help and constant encouragement to persevere through some very challenging times. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Majidah and my son Adam, who had patiently and diligently tolerated me while I undertook this project. Their love, support, and good-natured spirit, as well as their critical analysis, proved to be invaluable in producing this work. They deserve all my love and thanks. TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF FIGURE vii LIST OF TABLES viii CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 Environmental Education Program in Schools 3 Concept for Environmental Education - 6th. Malaysian Plan 4 Efforts in Implementing Environmental Education 6 An Overview of Environmental Networking In Malaysia 6 Significance of the Study 7 Study Purpose 8 Specific Objectives 8 Limitations of the study 9 CHAPTER 2 Literature Review 10 Introduction 10 Environmental Attitude 11 Knowledge and Attitude 15 Persuasive Communication 16 Media Exposure 20 Socio-Demographic Influences 20. Ethnic Difference 20 Gender Differences 22 Theoretical Framework 24 CHAPTER 3 Methodology 25 Sample Sites 25 Sample Design 25 Sample Size 26 Data Collection 27 Instrument and Design 27 Data Analysis 28 Cronbach’s Reliability Coefficient Alpha 28 Statistical Test 30 Discriminant Function Analysis 32 CHAPTER 4 Result 35 Introduction 35 Section One: The description of survey response rates on Demographic 36 Section Two: The result of the respondents based on the characteristics of variables measured and the results of reliability tests of constructed indices on attitude domain 38 Exposure 38 Awareness 41 Knowledge 43 Attitude 47 Involvement 53 Behavior 56 Section Three: Investigate the relationship between the six domains Strength of Association Between Socio-Demographics and the Six Domains 60 Relationships Between Exposure, Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, Involvement and Behavior 67 Knowledge 67 Attitude 68 Behavior 68 Exposure 69 Section Four: Prediction of Attitude and Behavior with Socio-demographics and domains 70 Section Five: The discriminant analysis on the students group 74 Prediction of Attitude and Behavior with Socio-Demographics and Domains 74 Summary of Results 78 CHAPTER 5 Summary, Discussion and Conclusion 81 Summary 81 v Discussion 85 Conclusions 90 Recommendations 91 Need for Future Research 92 Limitations of the Study 95 References and Literature Cited 96 APPENDIX A -Questionnaire 101 APPENDIX B - Descriptive Tables Socio-demographic Characteristics 107 vi List of Figure Figure 1. Theoretical Framework of Responsible Environmental Behavior 23 vii List of Tables Table 1: Frequencies of Students exposure to environmental information 39 Table 2: Correlations analysis of students between Exposure Items 40 Table 3: Students awareness on various questions concerning environment. 41 Table 4: Correlations analysis of students between Awareness Items 43 Table 5: Students ecological knowledge 44 Table 6: Students environmental knowledge 45 Table 7: Correlations analysis of students between Knowledge Items 46 Table 8: Broad Environmental Attitude 48 Table 9: Attitude towards Specific Local Environmental Issues 49 Table 10: Correlations analysis of students between Attitudes Items 51 Table 11: Reliability Test for Attitudes 53 Table 12: Students involvement in various environmental activities 54 Table 13: Students environmental behavioral responses 57 Table 14: Correlations analysis of students between Behavior Items 58 Table 15: Reliability Test for Behavior 59 Table 16: Significant Relationships between Six domains and Socio-demographics (p-value) 65 Table 17: Significant Relationships between Six domains and Socio-demographic 66 Table 18: Correlation analysis of students between the six domains 67 viii Table 19: Regression Analysis for Attitude (R2 = 0.17) 71 Table 20: Regression Analysis for Behavior ( R2 = 0.16) 73 Table 21: Discriminant Function of Attitude 75 Table 22: Discriminant Analysis of Attitude 76 Table 2 3: Discriminant