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Sustainability: how a Local Government achieved behaviour change interventions using self-reported Diary Studies
In recent years, Indeemo has seen an influx of problem statements and behavioural research briefs surrounding the need to create a more sustainable society. Creating awareness and designing behaviour change interventions to help communities and organisations become more sustainable is an urgent and growing topic in the behavioural research and behavioural design profession.
This case study outlines one such behavioural research project where a Local Government adopted a Mobile Diary Study method with the objective to encourage commuters to adopt new sustainable forms of transport for daily commuting.
Reversing the decline in Public Transport Use
For this particular study, the challenge originated in previous research where the Local Government client found a rapid decline in public transport use. With CO2 emissions increasing rapidly across the globe, Local Governments and communities have begun to form new initiatives to face climate and sustainability challenges.
The behavioural research objective: more sustainable commuting
The Local Government client’s objective of this study evolved and served a dual purpose. First, the goal was to design a behaviour change intervention that would get people to replace their transport behaviours to more sustainable forms.
In addition, by recruiting research participants to take part in the study, the goal was to also encourage the formation of healthier habits as a result of adopting alternative modes of transport in the region.
Designing the fieldwork phase for behaviour change research
For our Local Government client, the fieldwork duration was a total of 60 days. This involved research participants using Indeemo to document a daily commuter diary so that the client could understand current commuting habits and with the view to designing behaviour change interventions to encourage more sustainable commuting.
Over the course of the 60 days, participants were required to document their daily commute through the use of photos, videos, and diary notes.
As an alternative to driving around their locality, participants were encouraged to use more sustainable modes of commuting such as walking, cycling or using public transport. The findings were astonishing.
The “life changing” behavioural research results
Although the initial duration of fieldwork was for 60 days, 25% of people who uploaded 1 post (trip) to their diary via Indeemo went on to use the tool for more than 60 days. As a result, these participants began to form new healthier habits.
What is even more astonishing, by being able to drill down and immerse themselves into the lives of one of the participants and their daily diaries, the Local Government client’s research team were able to uncover how significant the impacts were as a result of this research and the diary study approach.
One participant (who had poor health entering the study) went on to complete their Indeemo Diary Study for 120 days, ended up actually selling their car, lost 2 stone and, as a consequence of losing that weight, qualified for “life altering surgery”.
After analysing all of the results of this diary study, our client referred to the Indeemo results as “Game Changing”. If everyone in the Local Government’s jurisdiction was exposed to this behaviour change intervention and the conversion rate remained the same, they estimated that it would reduce car mileage in the region alone by 230 million car miles per annum.
Let our Diary Study tool support your Behavioural Research
Diary Studies are a rich, agile way to get a deeper understanding of participants’ everyday lives and behaviors.
Behavioural research projects can range from a few days to as long as a year but are typically 1 to 2 weeks in duration.
After supporting hundreds of projects, we have learned a lot about how to optimize behavioural research for mobile and can activate your Diary Study projects in as little as one working day.
Private, safe and secure: our diary study tool
Private: we connect you 1-1 with research participants to maximise privacy and trust.
Safe: anonymous respondent logins and segregated recruiter accounts minimise PHI
Secure: our platform has been independently vetted by large healthcare providers.
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