Butt Free Australia

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Measure

measure

Measurement can include both the effectiveness of the project outcomes in reducing cigarette butt littering and the efficiency of the project process in delivering that change.

Measurement of changes in littering behaviour, litter and awareness – the outcomes – will indicate the effectiveness of the project towards reducing cigarette butt littering. The method of measurement will be influenced by the Context in which the littering is occurring.

Project process includes aspects such as use of resources, design of advertising, implementation and project management, and will indicate the efficiency of the project in producing the outcomes.

Project Effectiveness

Butt Free Australia recommends a combination of three methods to measure changes in audience butt littering behaviour, butt litter on the ground, and individual behaviour and awareness:

Behavioural observation

Observation of butt littering behaviour by your target audience in identified hotspots will indicate any change in butt littering before and after the project. The results will provide a percentage change in butt littering.

For example:
- A 22% reduction in butt littering behaviour was measured in identified hotspots.
Butt litter audit – accumulation

A count of accumulated butt litter on the ground in identified hotspots will indicate changes in butt litter before and after the project. The results will provide a percentage change in butt litter on the ground.

For example:
- A 32% reduction in butt litter was measured in identified hotspots.
Recall survey

A recall survey asks individuals about advertising and message retention and their own behaviour change following the project. It will also provide an indication of how many people were influenced to change their behaviour.

For example:
- 79% of people surveyed could recall the project
- 43% saw project street advertising or were approached by educators
- 13% heard it on radio
- 44% were exposed to both street advertising and radio
- 39% said this project had encouraged them to "butt it, then bin it".

Requirements for above combination of measurements:

The above combination of measurements needs to be conducted in similar conditions with a clearly identified audience participating in a regular activity. If these requirements are followed, results should correlate – show similar changes – and can be reported with confidence.

Similar conditions: Exact location, day of the week, time of day, weather and other events.
Clearly identified audience: For example, commuters, shoppers, visitors or office workers at a particular address.
Regular activity: For example, commuters going to work by train on a Thursday morning, to buildings on a particular city street or people smoking outside work daily.

Context and Measurement

The Context and identified target audience are extremely important in considering whether the above combination of methods is appropriate. Whether or not you are you able to clearly identify a target audience or their regular activity is key.

In many areas, such as those with very high traffic of people and various audiences, the above methods will not adequately capture changes in behavioural change. Areas with low traffic or transient audiences have similar issues in measurement.

It may be more appropriate to measure change of individuals rather than the group, or to only measure the butt litter in the areas as opposed to correlations between the litter and littering behaviour.

High traffic area

In extremely high traffic areas, it's difficult to identify a single audience, let alone one that is in a regular pattern or habit of activity. In such an area, for example Pitt Street, Sydney – where many people are doing many different things – 'noise' in your results is created by a lack of a pattern of activity.

For example, people going shopping, to a meeting, 'hanging out' or applying for a loan in Pitt Street may visit only once, making it impossible for you to educate and then monitor their behavioural change.

While it's necessary to conduct projects in such areas, Measurement may instead target an easily identified audience conducting a regular activity nearby that would still be exposed to the project activities in Pitt Street. It would then be valid to conduct the above combination of methods with this audience, such as people smoking outside a particular building that may pass through Pitt Street on their way to work, or you might conduct a recall survey of individuals within the Pitt Street area.

Low traffic area

In extremely low or dispersed traffic areas, where there may be too few people or they're not conducting habits regularly, it's better to record impacts on individuals.

For example, the audience may habitually go to the beach on a sunny day, but they may not sit in exactly the same spot. On top of that, there isn't an easy way to measure butts littered in the sand, or clearly and appropriately observe smokers littering butts. In this case, a recall survey will provide an accurate indicative measure of individual awareness and behaviour.

Transient audience

Another situation occurs in areas where the audience is transient, or just passing through. For example a tourist area: the person you educated on Wednesday outside the Brisbane Art Gallery, next Wednesday might be surfing off Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia. You won't be able to measure if they changed their behaviour in response to the project.

Measurement might involve long term observations of litter in the area, as your impact may be delayed or increment over a long period of time. Interviewing business owners and others that may observe changes in butt littering over a long term period will also assist in measuring change in such areas.

Project efficiency

It is important to decide at this stage which aspects of the project process you wish to measure and ensure methods are now in place to record results. These may include aspects such as media reach, public reception and use of infrastructure, and can be categorised within the Solutions.

Analysis of the results of Measurement will take place in the Evaluation Section.

Suggested methods to measure effective application of ButtFREE Solutions:

Solutions:	Measurement	Indicator/method
Context	Partnerships Engagement tool effectiveness	Partner feedback Public feedback (recall survey) Observation of project activities and audience response
Awareness	Media reach Advertising	Media monitoring of number of articles and the 'exposures' of the medium Photographs of posters or advertising in papers (media monitoring does not pick up advertising) Records from advertising agencies of any live reads or advertorials
Education	Face-to-face education/commitment Public reception of project	Number of pledges gained Educator and public feedback – debrief post project and monitor public feedback throughout Photographs of educators engaging the public
Infrastructure	Use of infrastructure	Behavioural observations Butt litter audit – accumulation
Enforcement	Authorised officer education Authorised officer fines	Number of people educated Number of fines issued

Action - Measure

Check the ButtFREE Context guide appropriate to your area for suggestions of measurement methods.
Indicate in the Measurement Section of your plan which methods you intend to use.
Download the methodology and datasheet for appropriate methods from the Tool list below.
Complete your ButtFREE project plan.

ButtFREE Project plan:

You now have all the information required to complete the ButtFREE Project plan. The next section, Implement, will guide you through using it to develop partnerships, build a team and devise a project timeline.