Social research

Social research undertaken by the Office of Environment and Heritage falls into three main areas:

• literature reviews or program and research reviews
• primary research
• development of guides to assist research, planning and evaluation for sustainability programs.

Reviews

• Educating the community about litter: changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviour 2000 to 2003 - a synthesis of the results of research and evaluation conducted in association with litter public awareness campaigns in NSW from 2000 to 2003.

Primary research reports

• Who cares about the environment? - a triennial survey measuring people's environmental attitudes, knowledge, skills and behaviour. The most recent main survey, the sixth in the series, was conducted in 2009.
• Patches of Green - a review of the state of environmental education in early childhood. Published in 2003, the report provides a basis for improving early childhood environmental education in Australia.
• Industry and the Environment 1997 - a benchmark survey of environmental management in NSW industry which was commissioned by EPA NSW to examine levels of environmental management in NSW industry and the factors affecting the adoption and effectiveness of environmental management practices.
• The environment and NSW ethnic communities in 2004 - a survey of the relationships between ethnicity and environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in NSW. This research updates and expands on the first survey of ethnic communities and the environment conducted in 1996.
• Domestic visitation to NSW national parks in 2010 and 2008 - biennial surveys that provide an estimate of the number of domestic visits to NSW national parks, visitor profiles, participation in activities on park and satisfaction levels.
• People and outdoor recreation in natural areas - focus group research to explore in depth the nature-based outdoor recreation experiences people are seeking, their motivations and preferences and barriers to participation.
• Demand for outdoor recreation in natural areas - a survey to investigate the demand in NSW for nature-based outdoor recreation activities and participants' preferred setting and features, motivations for participating and barriers to participation.

Guides to research and evaluation

• Guide to Using Research in Sustainability Programs - a Guide to help project and program managers integrate research as a key part of best practice program management using an outcomes hierarchy planning approach.
• Does Your Project Make a Difference? A Guide to Evaluating Environmental Education Projects and Programs. - assists project and program managers build a planning and evaluation framework for their projects or programs in an easy step by step way, with plenty of examples. Like the research guide, this guide uses an outcomes hierarchy model of program planning to develop the evaluation framework.

For more information about this research, email sustainability@environment.nsw.gov.au.