Hi All
I am working on a project looking at methods of evaluating behaviour change projects targeted at the residential sector. The aim of the project is to develop a tool-box of evaluation methods (both qualitative and quantitative) that can be used by local governments (i.e, they need to be simple to implement and not too costly). As a first step, I am looking at the literature (journals, case studies etc) to see what is best practice, including constraints of different types of methods.
From my early readings, both qualitative and quantitative have their constraints (eg. self-reporting bias, etc). With behaviour change projects, especially those that receive government funding, there is a big focus on demonstrating savings in hard numbers (metering). However, metering has its limitations; for example, energy metering changes cannot be necessarily linked to a behaviour, as there is no observational data (though self-reporting can be linked). Are there examples of behaviour change projects that use newer types of "smart meters" that provide more accurate data (such as time of use, zoned metering), and if so, are there particular brands of meters used, and is it costly to do so? Are there other sources of information that you know of that compare different types of evaluation methods? Interestingly, going through different case studies, such as on the CBSM and Tools of Change website, most of the project evaluation tend to show positive results; does this reflect that only successful case studies are put up on the web, or is there pressure to demonstrate positive results in behaviour change projects (to receive further funding, justify the project, or whatever reason)? If all projects were positive in changing behaviour, surely we would not be facing the problems we are facing today, as those successful projects would have been scaled up to change the behaviour of the masses? Appreciate your thoughts, comments, direction, and input.
Regards,
Damien Sweeney
Project Manager -
Community & Business Sustainability
National Centre For Sustainability
Swinburne University of Technology
369 Stud Rd, Wantirna VIC 3152
Tel: (03) 9210 1289
Fax: (03) 9210 1913
[email protected]
Evaluating Behaviour Change Projects
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Hi Damien
I recently came across a review of behaviour change models and their uses. The document can be found at http://www.gsr.gov.uk/downloads/resources/behaviour_change_review/refere nce_report.pdf
The report looks at 60 social-psychological models and discusses the issues around designing interventions to bring about change in individuals' behaviour. Whilst this is not strictly related to evaluation of the approaches, it does help match the model to the project, which should make evaluating it a little less troublesome. Also, the Dept of Agriculture in Victoria has developed an evaluation capacity in their research Division and they have written an article about how they went about this. From my reading the evaluations focussed on agricultural outcomes not necessarily behaviour change, but I think it says some interesting things about developing organisational evaluation capacity, which might be relevant for your work with local government. The reference for the journal article is:
Teaching People to Fish? Building the Evaluation Capability of Public Sector Organizations Evaluation SAGE Publications [1356-3890 (200301)9:1; 9-29; 032583] Vol 9(1): 9-29
Sage publications are making most of their journals freely available during October 2008 (over 500 journals) - the link to access these is https://online.sagepub.com/cgi/register?registration=FTOct2008-21
I hope this is of assistance
Kind regards
Megan Saxby
Senior Project Officer
Design and Development
Business Assistance Group
WorkCover NSW
Phone 4321 5945
Fax 9287 5945