ASKING VISITORS TO HELP Research to Guide Strategic Communication for Protected Area Management Sam H. Ham, Betty Weiler, Michael Hughes, Terry Brown, Jim Curtis and Mark Poll ASKING VISITORS TO HELP Technical Reports The technical report series present data and its analysis, meta-studies and conceptual studies, and are considered to be of value to industry, government and researchers. Unlike the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre’s Monograph series, these reports have not been subjected to an external peer review process. As such, the scientific accuracy and merit of the research reported here is the responsibility of the authors, who should be contacted for clarification of any content. Author contact details are at the back of this report. We’d love to know what you think of our new research titles. If you have five minutes to spare, please click on the link below to complete our online survey. Sustainable Tourism CRC Tech Report Feedback National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Ham, Sam H. Asking visitors to help: research to guide strategic communication for protected area management ISBN: 9781920965716 (pbk) Notes: Bibliography. Issued also in electronic form. Subjects: Protected areas—Australia—Management. Conservation of natural resources—Australia—Citizen participation. National parks and reserves—Public use—Australia—Case studies. Communication in organisations—Australia. Other Authors/Contributors: Weiler, Betty. Hughes, Michael. Brown, Terry. Curtis, Jim. Poll, Mark. Dewey Number: 658.450994 Copyright © CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd 2008 All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher. Any enquiries should be directed to: General Manager, Communications and Industry Extension or Publishing Manager, [email protected] First published in Australia in 2008 by CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd Edited by Alena Rayner Printed in Australia (Gold Coast, Queensland) Cover designed by Sin Design ii RESEARCH TO GUIDE STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION FOR PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT CONTENTS PREFACE _____________________________________________________________________________ VI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ________________________________________________________________ VI SUMMARY ___________________________________________________________________________ VII CHAPTER 1 THEORY AND PROCEDURES________________________________________________ 1 THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOUR _________________________________________________________ 1 ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL OF PERSUASION____________________________________________ 3 OVERVIEW OF METHODS _________________________________________________________________ 4 Step 1: Problem identification workshops__________________________________________________ 4 Step 2: Field research _________________________________________________________________ 4 Step 3: Professional development workshops _______________________________________________ 7 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON THE BEHAVIOURS OF INTEREST ______________ 8 LITTERING AND LITTER PICK-UP BY PROTECTED AREA VISITORS __________________________________ 8 Reducing the incidence of littering _______________________________________________________ 9 Encouraging visitors to pick up litter _____________________________________________________ 9 WILDLIFE FEEDING IN PROTECTED AREAS___________________________________________________ 11 Impacts of wildlife feeding on animals and people __________________________________________ 11 Interventions to deter wildlife feeding ____________________________________________________ 16 DOGS OFF LEAD IN PROTECTED AREAS _____________________________________________________ 18 CHAPTER 3 RUSSELL FALLS: RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS_______________ 20 PHASE 1: BELIEF ELICITATION ____________________________________________________________ 20 PHASE 2: BELIEF MEASUREMENT__________________________________________________________ 23 Intervention design __________________________________________________________________ 24 PHASE 3: EVALUATION OF THE INTERVENTIONS ______________________________________________ 25 Results ____________________________________________________________________________ 26 SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS AT RUSSELL FALLS__________________________________ 28 CHAPTER 4 BADGER WEIR: RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS ________________ 29 PHASE 1: BELIEF ELICITATION ____________________________________________________________ 29 PHASE 2: BELIEF MEASUREMENT__________________________________________________________ 31 Intervention design __________________________________________________________________ 32 PHASE 3: EVALUATION OF THE INTERVENTIONS ______________________________________________ 32 Results ____________________________________________________________________________ 34 SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS AT BADGER WEIR___________________________________ 38 CHAPTER 5 YELLAGONGA: RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS ________________ 39 PHASE 1: BELIEF ELICITATION ____________________________________________________________ 39 PHASE 2: BELIEF MEASUREMENT__________________________________________________________ 41 Intervention design __________________________________________________________________ 42 PHASE 3: EVALUATION OF THE INTERVENTION _______________________________________________ 43 Results ____________________________________________________________________________ 46 SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS AT YELLAGONGA ___________________________________ 48 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS____________________________________________________________ 50 EPILOGUE____________________________________________________________________________ 51 iii ASKING VISITORS TO HELP APPENDIX A: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION WORKSHOP PROCEDURES ___________________ 52 APPENDIX B: RESULTS OF MANIPULATION CHECKS____________________________________ 57 APPENDIX C: RUSSELL FALLS PHASE 3 QUESTIONNAIRE _______________________________ 60 APPENDIX D: BADGER WEIR PHASE 3 QUESTIONNAIRE_________________________________ 64 APPENDIX E: YELLAGONGA PHASE 3 QUESTIONNAIRE _________________________________ 68 REFERENCES _________________________________________________________________________ 72 AUTHORS_____________________________________________________________________________ 78 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Theory of planned behaviour_________________________________________________________ 2 Figure 2: Russell Falls interventions__________________________________________________________ 25 Figure 3: A-frame sign at Russell Falls________________________________________________________ 26 Figure 4: Badger Weir interventions__________________________________________________________ 32 Figure 5: A-frame sign at the Badger Weir Picnic Area ___________________________________________ 33 Figure 6: Pre-existing signage at Badger Weir __________________________________________________ 34 Figure 7: Yellagonga Regional Park intervention________________________________________________ 43 Figure 8: Aerial view of Yellagonga study site showing positioning of experimental signs _______________ 44 Figure 9: Pre-existing signage at Yellagonga Regional Park _______________________________________ 45 Figure 10: A-frame sign at the southern end of the Yellagonga study area ____________________________ 46 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Selected literature on the impacts of wildlife feeding______________________________________ 12 Table 2: Studies evaluating the effectiveness of interventions aimed at deterring wildlife feeding __________ 17 Table 3: Positive behavioural beliefs of visitors at Russell Falls ____________________________________ 21 Table 4: Negative behavioural beliefs of visitors at Russell Falls ___________________________________ 21 Table 5: Positive normative beliefs of visitors at Russell Falls______________________________________ 21 Table 6: Negative normative beliefs of visitors at Russell Falls _____________________________________ 22 Table 7: Positive control beliefs of visitors at Russell Falls ________________________________________ 22 Table 8: Negative control beliefs of visitors at Russell Falls _______________________________________ 22 Table 9: Strengths, evaluations and cross-products of the salient behavioural beliefs at Russell Falls for compliers (C) and non-compliers (NC) ________________________________________________ 23 Table 10: Strength, motivation to comply and cross-product of the salient normative belief at Russell Falls for compliers (C) and non-compliers (NC) ________________________________________________ 24 Table 11: Observed behaviour under control and treatment conditions at Russell Falls___________________ 26 Table 12: Comparison of mean cross-product and attitude scores for control and treatment groups _________ 27 Table 13: Strengths, evaluations and cross-products of the targeted behavioural belief at Russell Falls (control versus interventions)_______________________________________________________________ 27 Table 14: Impact on behaviour of respondents with negative or neutral prior intentions (n = 247) __________ 28 Table 15: Positive behavioural beliefs of visitors at Badger Weir ___________________________________ 29 Table 16: Negative behavioural beliefs of visitors at Badger Weir __________________________________ 30 Table 17: Positive normative beliefs of visitors at Badger