Favourable Attitude Towards a Promoted Eco-Friendly Practice

People’s existing attitudes influence their willingness to adopt the practices promoted by development interventions. This indicator therefore measures the proportion of the target population with a favourable attitude towards following a given practice (this also includes usage of a certain product, such as solar lamps). The ‘target group’ can include many different stakeholders – farmers, businesses or the general public.

Determine the indicator’s value by using the following methodology:

1) Define one or more statements that can be used to assess the respondents’ attitudes towards the promoted practice. For example: “Vegetable gardens should be watered in the early morning or late afternoon, not during middle of the day”. If you deal with a behaviour that is likely to be influenced by social desirability bias (respondents saying what the ‘correct’ answer is when it doesn’t correspond with what they really think), consider presenting the negative behaviour in the statement. For example: “When shopping, it is better to use plastic bags provided by the sellers instead of using reusable bags brought from home.” or “In order to have a good harvest of [specify the crop], a farmer must use chemical fertilizers. There is no other option.” In this case, the respondents who hold such unfavourable attitudes are more likely to admit to them.

2) Conduct individual interviews with a representative sample of the target group members:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTION (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Introduction: Now I am going to read a statement. Please show me on this scale the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement [show the scale provided at the bottom of this page and explain how it works, including the meaning of each face]. There are no right or wrong answers – please answer according to your feelings about the statement.

Q1: Which of these four faces [point to the scale] best represents your feelings about the following statement? [read the statement]

A1: strongly agree / somewhat agree / somewhat disagree / strongly disagree / does not know

3) Count the number of respondents who have a (‘somewhat’ or ‘strongly’) supportive attitude towards the eco-friendly practice.

4) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents who have a supportive attitude by the total number of respondents (exclude those who did not know). Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by gender, age group and other relevant criteria.

1) Ask only about practices the respondents are likely to be familiar with, otherwise you will receive many unreliable or ‘I don’t know’ answers. If you talk about a product, consider showing the product or a photo of it (though do not provide any information about the product that might influence the respondent’s answer).

2) The reliability of the data from this indicator depends on the practice you are asking about – the more people know what the ‘correct answer’ is, the less likely you are to receive reliable data (as people might be reluctant to say what they really think). Furthermore, keep in mind that the fact that someone has a positive attitude towards a certain behaviour does not automatically mean that s/he will adopt it (think of the health and other practices you approve of but do not necessarily follow). Remember: What matters the most are people’s actions, not knowledge or attitudes. Before you use this indicator, consider how likely it is that you will manage to get useful and reliable data. 

3) The visual scale is used to make it easier for the respondent to choose the response that best represents her/his feelings. If you do not wish to use the visual scale, you will have to ask the respondent: Would you say that you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree with the following statement? [read out the given statement]

4) If you want your indicator to capture people’s attitudes towards several different practices, you can rephrase it to: “% of [specify the target group] with favourable attitudes towards at least X out of X promoted eco-friendly practices”. For example, “% of target group members with favourable attitudes towards at least 4 out of 6 promoted environmental practices”. To calculate the value of the indicator, use the same methodology as described above, with the only exceptions being:

- when analysing the data, calculate the number of respondents with favourable attitudes towards the minimum number of practices (e.g. at least 4 out of 6)

- to calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents with favourable attitudes towards the minimum number of practices by the total number of respondents. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage

5) If you use several statements to determine a respondent’s attitude towards a given practice, decide on how many statements the respondent has to agree with in order to be considered as 'having a favourable attitude'.