Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T18:36:16.495Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of Social Research in Effective Social Change Programs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Lynne McLoughlin  and
Geoff Young
Lynne McLoughlin*
Affiliation:
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW)
Geoff Young
Affiliation:
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW)
*
†Community Education Section, Sustainability Programs Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, PO Box 644, Parramatta, NSW 2124, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Social research is a critical foundation for programs that seek to engage communities in change and in the development of more sustainable societies. Without appropriate research, programs aimed at change are likely to be based on implicit or assumed problem identification and/or inferred community needs and wishes. If we are to achieve community participation in activities that lead to real change, research to find out about those communities is the first step. Over the past ten years the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) has developed a considerable body of social research, conducted with both the general community and specific community segments, to underpin its environmental education programs. This paper includes a review of some models for integrating social research into education programs, and examines the extent to which social research has impacted on both the environmental education programs and the organisational culture of the DEC. From this are drawn learnings from the perspective of a major State environmental agency, about the integration of social research into any program or organisation seeking to achieve social change towards sustainability. As well as program specific benefits, the ultimate outcome of this process is to assist in producing an organisational culture which values evidence-based decision-making and develops policies and structures that incorporate a social research dimension into both programs and policy.

Keywords

social researchprogram evaluationsustainabilityeducationcapacity building
Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 21 , 2005 , pp. 57 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1992–2003). Environmental issues: People's views and practices, ABS cat. no. 4602.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2002). Measuring Australia's progress, ABS cat. no. 1370.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Clements, D. (2004). What counts? Interpreting evidence-based decision-making for management and policy. Report of the 6th CHSRF Annual Invitational Workshop, Vancouver British Columbia, March. Retrieved from http://www.chsrf.ca/knowledge_transfer/pdf/2004_workshop_report_e.pdf.Google Scholar
Darnton, A. (2004a). The impact of sustainable development on public behaviour. Report 1 of Desk Research commissioned on behalf of UK Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/documents/publications/desk-researchl.pdf Google Scholar
Darnton, A. (2004b). Driving public behaviours for sustainable lifestyles. Report 2 of Desk Research commissioned on behalf of UK Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/documents/publications/desk-research2.pdf Google Scholar
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) (DEC) (2003). New South Wales State of the Environment 2003. EPA 2003/89. Sydney: Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW).Google Scholar
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) (DEC) (2004a). Who cares about the environment in 2003? DEC social research series, DEC2004/10. Sydney: Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). Also at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/whocares.Google Scholar
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) (2004b). Does your project make a difference?: A guide to evaluating environmental education projects and programs. DEC 2004/110. Sydney: Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). Also at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/community/projecteval.htm Google Scholar
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) (DEC) (2004c). The drain is just for rain did it work? Summary report on the evaluation of the NSW urban stormwater education program. DEC2004/111. Sydney: Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). Also at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/drain04111.pdf.Google Scholar
Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) (DEC) (2005). The environment and ethnic communities in 2004. DEC 2005/213. Sydney: Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). Also at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/whocares/ethniccom.htm Google Scholar
Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (1998). The sustainable corporation: Organisational renewal in Australia. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Environment Protection Authority NSW (EPA) (1994). Who cares about the environment? A benchmark survey of the environmental knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour of the people of New South Wales. Sydney: Environment Protection Authority NSW.Google Scholar
Environment Protection Authority NSW (EPA) (1997a). Who cares about the environment in 1997? EPA social research series EPA 97/108. Sydney: Environment Protection Authority NSW.Google Scholar
Environment Protection Authority NSW (EPA) (1997b). The environment and ethnic Communities. EPA social research series EPA 97/73. Sydney: Environment Protection Authority NSW. Also at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/whocares/ethnic+communities.htm Google Scholar
Environment Protection Authority NSW (EPA) (1997c). Industry and the environment. EPA social research series EPA 97/78. Sydney: Environment Protection Authority NSW.Google Scholar
Environment Protection Authority NSW (EPA) (2000). Who cares about the environment? 2000. EPA social research series EPA 2001/31. Sydney: Environment Protection Authority NSW. Also at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/whocares.Google Scholar
Environment Protection Authority NSW (EPA)(2003a). Inventory of NSW environmental education programs. A survey of NSW environmental education. Conducted by the NSW EPA on behalf of the NSW Council on Environmental Education in November 2000. EPA 2003/32. Sydney: Environment Protection Authority NSW. Also at http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/cee/documents.htm.Google Scholar
Environment Protection Authority NSW (EPA) (2003b). Patches of green: Early childhood education in Australia – scope status and direction. EPA social research series. EPA 2003/35. Sydney: Environment Protection Authority NSW. Also at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/publications/administrative.htm Google Scholar
Fien, J., & Tilbury, D. (2002). The global challenge of sustainability. In Tilbury, D., Stevenson, R.. Fien, J. & Schreuder, D. (Eds.), Education and sustainability: Responding to the global challenge. Gland, Switzerland: Commission on Education and Communication, IUCN.Google Scholar
Ferguson, L. (2003, 09). Developing an evaluative culture. Evaluation who benefits? Australian Evaluation Society International Conference, Auckland New Zealand.Google Scholar
Funnell, S. (1997). Program logic: An adaptable tool for designing and evaluating program. Evaluation News and Comment, 6(1), 5–17.Google Scholar
Gilmour, A., Walkerden, G., & Scandol, J. (1999). Adaptive management of the water cycle on the urban fringe: Three Australian case studies. Conservation Ecology, 3(1), 11 (online) at: http://www.consecol.org/vol3/iss1/art11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, M.T., Nohria, N., & Tierney, T. (1999). What's your strategy for managing knowledge? Harvard Business Review, 03-April 1999.Google Scholar
Holling, C. S. (Ed.) (1978). Adaptive environmental assessment and management New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Janicke, M. (1997). The political system's capacity for environmental policy. In Janicke, M. & Weidner, H. (Eds.), National environmental policies: A comparative study of capacity-building (pp. 1–23). Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janicke, M. (2002). The political system's capacity for environmental policy: The framework for comparison. In Janicke, M. & Weidner, H. (Eds.), Capacity building in national environmental policy: A comparative study of 17 countries (pp. 1–43). Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Janicke, M., & Weidner, H. (Eds.) (1997). National environmental policies: A comparative study of capacity-building. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Kollmuss, A., & Ageyman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to environmental behaviour? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239–260.Google Scholar
Lee, K. N. (1999). Appraising adaptive management. Conservation Ecology, 3(1), 3 (online) at: http://www.consecol.org/vol3/iss2/art3.Google Scholar
Masters, J. (1995). The history of action research. In Hughes, I. (Ed.), Action research electronic reader. The University of Sydney, on-line http://www.behs.cchs.usyd.edu.au/arow/Reader/rmasters.htm.Google Scholar
NSW Council on Environmental Education (CEE) (2002). Learning for sustainability NSW environmental education action plan 2002-05. Sydney: NSW Council on Environmental Education.Google Scholar
NSW Council on Environmental Education (2005). Learning for sustainability NSW environmental education plan 2006-09: Consultation draft. Sydney: NSW Council on Environmental Education. At: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/cee/lfs.htm Google Scholar
NSW Government (1996). A new approach to environmental education in NSW. A NSW government green paper. Chatswood: Environment Protection Authority.Google Scholar
Owen, J. M. (1993). Program evaluation: Forms and Approaches. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Owen, J. M., & Rogers, P. (1999). Program evaluation: Forms and approaches (2nd ed.). St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Patton, M. Q. (1996). Utilization-focused evaluation: The new century text (3 rd edn). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Patton, M. Q. (2001). Evaluation, knowledge management, best practices and high quality lessons learned. American Journal of Evaluation, 22(3), 320–336.Google Scholar
Raynor, S., & Malone, E. L. (Eds.) (1998). Human choice and social change. 4 vols. Columbus, Ohio: Batelle Press.Google Scholar
Shindler, B., & Cheek, K. A. (1999). Integrating citizens in adaptive management: A prepositional analysis. Conservation Ecology, 3(1), 9 (online) URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol3/iss1/art9.Google Scholar
Spacone, R. (2003). Practitioner research as staff development: A facilitator's guide. Virginia Adult Learning Resource Centre, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. At: http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/research/.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, Y. (1998). What is participatory action research? Action Research International (online) at: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/ari/p-ywadsworth98.html Google Scholar
Weiss, C. H. (1972) Evaluation research: Methods for assessing program effectiveness. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Weiss, C. H. (1998). Evaluation: Methods for studying programs and policies (Second edition). Upper Saddle River. NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Young, G., & Salier, P. (2004). The NSW urban stormwater education program 1998-2003. Water, 03, 94–96.Google Scholar