Benjamin Preston, Rueben Warren and Peter Stewart conducted a study that focused on the environmental awareness of 768 low-income families in the Mississippi Delta. During this study, the three found that certain factors affected the level of environmental awareness in participants. “Significant associations existed between both education and race/ethnicity and the responses of survey participants.” (Preston, Stewart & Warren, 2000, p.174)
In this study, all the participants were women who were the heads of their households. The researchers wanted to find out if they were aware of the “environmental issues and daily behaviors that may affect the health of their families.” (Preston, Stewart & Warren, 2000, p.175)
In regards to the campaign at Florida A&M, we have to follow the example of these three researchers. We have to identify a problem that we know students will be interested in. The researchers focused on women because they identified a problem that would affect their children. The researchers knew that this issue would be important to the audience they chose. Had they chosen adults with no children, the message would have been irrelevant.
As we organize this campaign, we need to understand what is important to our target audience. What do students care about? What will affect students on a daily basis? Once we answer these questions, we can pinpoint a specific issue that matters to the students and craft a message that tells them how the green energy fund will solve it.
In the study of families in the Mississippi Delta, the researchers knew their audience. The surveys were only sent to “female-headed households with children (aged 2 to 5) participating in the Head Start programs” in 20 specific counties. (Preston, Stewart & Warren, 2000, p.175) We have already broken down our audience by their place of residence. With this step already complete, we need to make sure we ask the right questions so that we can narrow down our data and analyze it correctly. It’s important that we know the sex of our participants and their classification. This may affect how receptive they are to our message and how concerned they are with our cause.
Preston, B. L., Stewart, P., & Warren, R. C. (2000). Factors affecting environmental awareness among head start families in mississippi. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 19(3), 174-179. doi: S0749-3797(00)00195-1
