University Brussels Frank Thevissen UNEP - GRID Arendal Workshop on Communication of Environmental Information 22-23 October 2001 1 GRID Arendal, Norway

University Brussels Frank Thevissen

UNEP - GRID Arendal Workshop on Communication of Environmental Information 22-23 October 2001

1

GRID Arendal, NorwayWorkshop on

Communication ofEnvironmental Information

Measuring Impact, Effect andEfficiency of Environmental

Information & Communication

Frank Thevissen

GRID Arendal, NorwayWorkshop on

Communication ofEnvironmental Information

Measuring Impact, Effect andEfficiency of Environmental

Information & Communication

Frank Thevissen



2

General GoalGeneral Goal

“Maximise the impact of environmental information”

Major concern of all communication (related) issues (70 - 90%)

Minor practice (30 - 10%)



3

How to achieve that objective ...?How to achieve that objective ...?

Systematic approach (check lists) Providing Insights (mechanism, complicating

factors, ...) Priority setting Criteria setting (defining impact, measuring

effects) Legitimisation



4

Just before we start ...Just before we start ...

... 17 unpopular perspectives from the field of applied communication research

... 17 unpopular perspectives from the field of applied communication research



5

NR 1NR 1

Compared to rules, regulations, rewarding systems, social control, fines etc.; communication and information dissemination activities always have a weaker impact on changing people’s behaviour since this behaviour change largely depends on their free will;



6

NR 2NR 2

Behavioural change is most difficult to achieve by various types of information dissemination and communication efforts;



7

NR 3NR 3

Any question will most likely always generate an answer, independent from the quality and validity of the question;



8

NR 4NR 4

Using the outcomes of market research will not (any longer) guarantee the success of an applied strategy: to a large extent the effect and impact of a campaign will remain unpredictable;



9

NR 5NR 5

From all variables in action, the design and content of the survey itself often has the strongest impact on respondents knowledge and change in awareness;



10

NR 6NR 6

Never overestimate the capacity of respondents to express their wants, needs ...;



11

NR 7NR 7

Although market research methods and techniques improve, the failure ratio in for example particular product categories (consumer goods) raise up to 90%;



12

NR 8NR 8

Always define clear, tangible indicators to measure the impact (effect) of communication actions since these variables are often intangible (awareness, memory, likeability...);



13

NR 9NR 9

Never mix up ‘information dissemination’ with ‘communication’ or ‘communications impact’. Remember that most information disseminated gets lost and therefore has no impact at all;



14

NR 10NR 10

Information overload has a tremendous negative effect on the potential communications impact;



15

NR 11NR 11

Communication effects change over time. Remember campaigns generally have a temporary and limited impact.



16

NR 12NR 12

To measure opinions, respondents first need to HAVE FORMED an opinion;



17

NR 13NR 13

To measure facts and figures via questionnaires, people largely depend on their memory: as a consequence the answers to these questions are often unreliable;



18

NR 14NR 14

People’s willingness to participate in surveys and to give reliable answers largely depends on their cultural, social, religious background etc., their motivation, knowledge and attitude towards the survey itself;



19

NR 15NR 15

The effectiveness of a campaign is not related to the level of exposure;



20

NR 16NR 16

Campaigns are more often designed to suit the interests of the sponsor rather than meet the objectives at target group level;



21

NR 17NR 17

Information most often reinforces people’s attitudes. Information not in accordance with their beliefs and values will most often be rejected or neglected by the receiver.



22

New ‘communication’ environment...?New ‘communication’ environment...?

1960 2000

overload

production

consumption



23

AAAA

AAAA

hypodermic needle model



24

AAA B

AAA

AAA -A

AAA A



25

Selective Exposure Selective Attention Selective Memorisation Selective Retention



26

Impact ... ?Impact ... ?



27

Stimulus and Response PatternsStimulus and Response Patterns

S/R R(1)/S

R(2)/S



28

X X

t1 t2

t1t2

communication brand ‘x’ tangible brand product ‘x’

effect 1

effect 2

effect 1

effect 3 effect 4

effect 5

exposure consumer behaviour

X



29

Research CycleResearch Cycle

Analysis (media consumption, objectives, benchmarks)

Planning(media planning)

Implementation (process analysis, monitoring)

Evaluation(communication effect research)



30

ChecklistChecklist



31

Communication Research Checklist (1)Communication Research Checklist (1)

Sender? Channel? Receiver?

Data? Information? Communication?

Ad hoc? Permanent? Ad hoc & Permanent

Analysis? Planning? Implementation? Evaluation?



32


Active information? Passive Information?

focus on Media? focus on Message? focus on Corporate?

Effect Impact Efficiency Cost-effectiveness

Cognitive (learn) Affective (feel) Conative (do)



33


Immediate? Short Term effects? Medium Term effects? Long Term effects?

communication effects? non-communication

effects?

direct impact? indirect impact?

desired effects? undesired effects?



34


Response indicators?(impact followed by response)

feedback to sender other direction

No response indicators?



35

Communications Functions:Communications Functions:

Visibility, Reach (GRP) Attention Awareness (Agenda Setting) Memorisation Awareness Involvement Image Associations (artificial) Behaviour change



36



37

CONCEPTUALIZATION

Specify th meaning of theconcepts and variables to be studied

CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHODS

ExperimentsSurvey researchField researchContent analysisExisting data researchComparitive researchEvaluation research

POPULATION AND SAMPLING

Whom do we want to beable to draw conclusions about?Who will be observed for that purpose

OPERATIONALIZATION

How will we actuallymeasure the variablesunder study?

OBSERVATIONS

Collecting data for analysisand interpretations

DATA PROCESSING

Transforming the data collectedinto a form appropriate to manipulation and analysis

ANALYSIS

Analyzing data anddrawing conclusions

APPLICATION

Reporting results and assessing their implications

Research Process:



38

Examples & Illustrations

Frank Thevissen

Examples & Illustrations

Frank Thevissen



39

scores: si

mi

li

me

mc

beh.

+

+

-

+

+

+

CognitiveCognitive

AffectiveAffective

ConnativeConnative



40

titles

numbers

issues

contacts persons

target groups

universe (population)



41

4

7

89

11

38

51

15

44

41

18

56

26

20

63

17

0

25

75

14

46

40

20

63

17

23

71

6

24

75

1

F = 0 F = 1- 2 F = 3- 5 F = 6 - 10 F = > 10



42

number of inserts1 5 10

max. reach60%

100%

(accumulated reach)

GRP



43

Effective Reach (ERP)

1 3 10Contacts

10

50

70

overexposureERP-zone

minimal exposure

frequency

coverage target group (%)



44

-values for different media-values for different media

cinema (30’’) 0.75 - 0.70 television (30’’) 0.30 - 0.22 newspapers (full page) 0.25 - 0.10 magazines (full page) 0.20 billboards (20m2) 0.004

1 contact

2 contacts

3 contacts

10% 90%

10% 9% 81%

19% 8.1% 72.9%



45

CONCEPTUALIZATION

Specify th meaning of theconcepts and variables to be studied

CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHODS

ExperimentsSurvey researchField researchContent analysisExisting data researchComparitive researchEvaluation research

POPULATION AND SAMPLING

Whom do we want to beable to draw conclusions about?Who will be observed for that purpose

OPERATIONALIZATION

How will we actuallymeasure the variablesunder study?

OBSERVATIONS

Collecting data for analysisand interpretations

DATA PROCESSING

Transforming the data collectedinto a form appropriate to manipulation and analysis

ANALYSIS

Analyzing data anddrawing conclusions

APPLICATION

Reporting results and assessing their implications

Research Process:

Documents

University Brussels Frank Thevissen UNEP - GRID Arendal Workshop on Communication of Environmental Information 22-23 October 2001 1 GRID Arendal, Norway