resident hall campaign proposal

1

An Accessibility Approach to Campus Sustainability

Authors: Nattalya Avila

Anne-Elizabeth Clark

Kimberly King

Chang Liu

Annamarie Shrader

Florida State University

For: Public Communication Campaigns

Under the direction of Dr. Laura Arpan

Avila, Clark, King, Liu, Shrader 2

Table of Contents

Problem Statement………………………..…. 3

Background Information…………………………. 5

Target Audience………………………….9

Campaign Environment………………………….12

Campaign Objectives………………………….13

Campaign Messages and Strategies………………………….15

Implementation Plan………………………….18

Evaluation Plan………………………….18

Appendix………………………….20

Methodology………………………….20

Focus Group Summary………………………….22

Message Samples………………………….25

Test Survey………………………….27

Bibliography………………………….42


Problem Statement

Energy consumption has increased consistently in the United States and is projected to

continue to increase in the next 25 years. Total primary energy consumption for the U.S. is

projected to increase by 8.9% by 2040 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2015). The

production of energy comes with environmental and health risks; the city of Tallahassee

produces 96% of it’s energy from natural gas (Swiman, 2015). The combustion of fossil fuels

emits more carbon dioxide than any other human activity; it also emits sulphur and nitrogen

oxides and has the potential to emit carbon monoxide (Holdren et al., 2000). There are important

health risks associated with energy production: poor air quality can lead to bronchitis, asthma, or

premature mortality (Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and

Use, 2009).

Universities around the world are working on reducing their energy consumption. Most

energy consumption on American university campuses comes from within buildings (Peterson,

2007). On the Florida State University campus most of the energy consumption is attributed to

residential and classroom buildings (Swiman, 2015). While most university campaigns have

been geared towards filling a knowledge gap, a 2011 study found support that a “commitment

gap” also exists. The researcher suggests targeting this lack of “commitment to campus

sustainability” (Adams, 2011). Others suggest that lack of feedback about energy use affects the

behaviors students engage in. Students are not made aware of how much energy they are using

and so motivation to change behavior is low (Bekker, 2010).

Several behaviors can be changed to help combat this overconsumption of energy on

college campuses, ranging from simple and easy to much more complicated and expensive:these

include student-controlled activities such as turning off the lights when not in the room,


purchasing and using power strips and unplugging electronics such as chargers and hair styling

tools from the wall when no longer in use. Administration action should also be implemented

such as changing light bulbs to more energy-efficient models, using energy-saving computer

programs and programming vending machines to operate in a more efficient manner (Sofer,

2008).

While not the main focus of this campaign, we do advocate turning off power strips in

residence halls because it is an easily implemented change that makes a major impact. Phantom

energy, or the energy used to power electronics that are plugged in but not on or in use,

contributes to about 10% of the average electric bill thanks to the 25 electronic appliances the

average American household has (Schueler, 2015). Of course, the average dorm room may not

have quite that number, but appliances that are used almost every day by students can add up.

For example, the “average charger uses .26 watts of energy when not in use and 2.24 watts even

when a fully charged device is connected to it (Schueler, 2015).” Many students already have

power strips in their residence halls and use them; they may simply neglect to turn them off

when not in use. By taking into consideration the impact of the phantom load on energy use, we

hope to inspire the residents to unplug unused appliances and therefore facilitate an environment

in which they can continue in the energy saving process.


Background Information

A typical student

Florida State University (FSU) is home to approximately 41,000 students, 20% of whom

reside in University housing (College Board & Nelnet, 2014); 100% of whom use electronic

devices daily. Students living on the Florida State University campus do not pay a per month fee

for electricity/power use. Therefore, they are neither monetarily rewarded nor punished for

conserving or using energy. In a survey, the majority of college students indicated that they

supported energy-saving initiatives and would be willing to participate in such campaigns

(Gollotti, 2009).

Targeted behaviors

The current campaign will focus on increasing three energy conserving behaviors in the

residence halls: using daylight instead of artificial lighting (turning off lights), turning off

computers when not in use, and unplugging appliances that are not in use. These three behaviors

were chosen because of their impact level and feasibility.

Turning off computers:

Personal computers are one of the fastest growing uses of electricity in the United States

(Allaway, 2002). A desktop computer can use as much as 250 watts of electricty; laptops use

anywhere from 15-45 watts (Peters). According to a study by the Pew Center, 88% of

undergraduates have a laptop computer and 59% own a desktop computer (2011). This is a

cause for concern. With 41,000 students on campus, the amount of electricity used on computers

alone can be damaging. It is suggested that computers should be turned off when not in use for

more than 15-30 minutes (Allaway, 2002). Texas A&M University found that if all of their


students were to turn off their computers at night the university could save up to $650,000

annually. This holds implication for FSU who is trying to reduce the amount of money spent on

energy costs. This behavior should be easy for students to perform and it’s impact could reduce

the amount of CO2 emissions released by universities; 30% of this energy is used either

inefficiently or unnecessarily (Computer and Office Energy Saving Tips).

Turning Off Lights:

Commercial and industrial building, including university buildings, account for

50% of the nation's CO2 emissions (Protecting Your Campus and the Environment with EPA’s

Energy Star). The Energy Saving Trust suggests turning off lights and using sensors so that

electricity is triggered only when that area is in use (2014). The Environmental Protection

Agency suggests getting students involved in the process of saving energy on university

campuses. While turning off lights is often a behavior that some researchers stray away from

because it’s impact seems to be quite minimal (Attarri, 2010) on a large scale such as a

university campus it’s impact can be great. This is made evident by the number of university

sustainability programs targeting this behavior. According to the Eugene Water & Electric Board

turning off lights will not only save energy but it can save lamp replacement costs up to 30%.

The sustainability office at Cornell that turning off lights that are not in use can save up to

$60,000 annually (Lights Off Cornell).

Unplugging Appliances:

The average American leaves 40% of their household appliances plugged in even

when not in use. These appliances include: coffee makers, computers, as well as phone and iPod

chargers. (Khalfani-Cox, 2014). Appliances such as these usually go unnoticed as constant


energy consumers. A cell phone charger, for example, consumes .26 watts of energy when not in

use (Schueler, 2015). Considering that 99.8% of college students own a cell phone (Ransford

2010), it became evident to us that this behavior was imperative to target.

Turning off power strips: The consensus in the literature is that plug-in devices account for 15-

25% of all electricity consumption in a household (Bensch et al. 2010) 5-10% of that coming

from phantom power loads, which alone represent 1% of global CO2 emissions (standby.lbl.gov).

Phantom power appears to be in a somewhat of a catatonic state in that current energy levels

attributed to phantom power are not projected to increase dramatically through 2020 (Roth et al.,

2007). Power strips specifically combat the presence of phantom power when used correctly,

which make them a good candidate to embark on the path of stomping out phantom loads all

together.

Benefits and Barriers

Turning Off Computers: Research has shown that turning off computers and laptops when not in

use for more than 20 minutes, extends battery life and performance (energy.gov). This action

will also cut down on energy costs due to the minimized amount of time a laptop would need to

be plugged in and charging (digitaltrends.com). Unfortunately, students living in residence halls

do not have to pay their electricity bills, so this monetary benefit will not appeal to them.

Barriers to this behavior include attitudes of inconvenience about the action, laziness, and futility

(Stokes et al., 2013).


Using Daylight: Benefits of using daylight rather than artificial lighting include an increase in

mood, better school performance while improving test scores, and an increase in individual

focus. Daylight is a free resource which, again, while inaccessible to students not paying for

energy, still presents as a solid benefit in general. A barrier associated with using daylight is the

assumption that the room will become too hot. Another is the reported unpleasant glare from

direct sunlight hitting the screen. The type of window fixtures in a dwelling also presents an

interesting situation that, depending on the fixture, could act as either a benefit or a barrier

(Boyce et. al, 2003).

Unplugging Appliances: In regards to unplugging appliances, research has shown that benefits

include a reduction in energy costs per year, as well as a decrease of 10% in total residential

electricity use (abcnews.go & standby.gov). In regards to barriers, laziness, forgetfulness, and

discomfort of those performing the action were highly apparent in research studies (Stokes et al.,

2013).

Power Strips: Benefits of a power strip come from first, being specifically built to be easy and

convenient to use (Earle & Sparn, 2012). Most students have used one at some point in their

lives and admit that if they had a power strip in their room, they would use it (Kozloff et al.,

2013). The cost of a power strip is <1% of the amount of total savings the strip can save a

household per year (based on a $17 power strip) (NREL, 2013). And furthermore, today’s

powerstrips have multiple advanced modes including current-sensing, infrared remote,

master/slave, motion-sensing, remote switch, timer-controlled, or USB power-sensing so that all

needs can be met with one power strip (Earle & Sparn, 2012). Unfortunately, results vary greatly

in the research on this topic because outcomes are going to correlate with what the subject used


the power strip for (a desktop computer versus a phone charger) and how often they remember to

turn the power strip off (Earle & Sparn, 2012). Barriers include the reverse effects of all of the

benefits mentioned, such as there being too many modes to quickly differentiate between, or

choosing a $49 power strip over a $17 one. The knowledge gap, as well, restricts success in

energy saving because only 5.3% of the population claim to understand the effects/benefits of

using a power strip (Koser & Uthe, 2011). Above all, field tests show that the majority of the

time, people (not necessarily students) believe that unplugging unused appliances would take too

much of their time (Bensch et al., 2010).

Target Audience Description Characteristic and Possible Segmentation

Current Project Statistics

We conducted a survey for this campaign seen on page 27 of the appendix. The sample

included 223 total participants. The demographic breakdown in regard to gender, race, and

current living arrangements are as follows: 25% participants were male, 67% were female; 69%

identified as white, 8% as black, 10% as Hispanic/Latin, 3% as Asian, 3% as multiracial, 2% as

other, and 5% prefered not to answer. 19% reside in residence halls, 17% in houses, 60% in

apartments, and 4% in fraternity/sorority houses. The demographics of our survey respondents

were similar to that of FSU’s student body. Our survey respondents slightly overrepresented

Hispanics and females. The student body at FSU is approximately 54.9% women and 66.4%

white, with 80% of students living off campus (collegedata.com).

In terms of media habits, typical 18-20 year olds use social media between 31-61 minutes

per day; Facebook being the most popular platform. For those considered “heavy users,” a


computer and smartphone is where most of their screen time is spent, while for “light users” the

television reigns supreme (unh.edu). This information will affect our campaign in terms of how

we distribute and craft messages.

The respondents in our survey had strong biospheric values which means that they tend to

make environmental decisions based on whether or not that decision will harm or hurt the

environment itself. The beliefs our survey respondents follow this pattern as our data shows that

two of our suggested behaviors, using daylight over artificial light and unplugging personal

appliances, are strongly correlated with biospheric values.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of research on the identity of opinion leaders for college

students, but from our own primary research we have determined that collegiate athletes/coaches,

resident assistants, and professors that students hold a personal relationship with play a strong

role.

Attitudes and Behaviors of Target Audience

Attitudes towards each of the target behaviors were measured. Our respondents reported

having an extremely positive attitude towards using daylight over artificial light (mean= 6.19,

S.D= 1.12). This attitude was the strongest among all three behaviors. It is also the behavior they

reported engaging in the most (mean= 4.63, S.D.= 2.05). While participants held a favorable

attitude towards turning off their computer when not in use (mean=5.15, S.D= 1.54) they

reported doing so rarely (mean=2.90, S.D.=1.93). Attitudes towards unplugging appliances from

the wall were moderately positive (mean=4.86, S.D=1.46). Respondents reported engaging in

this behavior less than the other two behaviors (mean=2.74, S.D.=1.98).


These data suggests that there is an attitude-behavior problem among participants. They

hold pro-environmental values and hold favorable attitudes to pro-environmental behaviors but

do not behave in a way that their attitudes suggest.

Benefits and Barriers

One of the main goals of the survey was to find the perceived barriers that would keep

our audience from engaging in the suggested behaviors. We were also interested in finding

benefits that would motivate our sample population to implement the recommended behaviors.

Respondents reported that it was difficult for them to remember to shut off the computer when

not in use (mean=4.23, S.D=1.94). We also found that some respondents reported not having

enough time to shut off the computer (mean=3.19, S.D.=1.88). Perceived benefits like “will

improve its performance” (mean=4.91, S.D=1.60) and “will protect the environment”

(mean=4.58, S.D=1.48) were held somewhat strongly but they were weakly correlated with

behavior.

Respondents reported that it was difficult to remember to unplug their appliances when

not in use (mean=4.56, S.D=1.98) but it had a somewhat weak, negative relationship with

behavior(r=-.219, p≤.05). They reported that their dwelling would look better if they did unplug

their appliances (mean=3.31, S.D=1.72). This belief had a positive but moderately weak

relationship with behavior (r=.260,p≤.001). While they were weakly correlated with behavior,

the data suggest that these beliefs would be the most effective to alter.

Respondents reported using daylight instead of artificial light more often than the other

two behaviors. They believe that using daylight will improve their mood (mean=5.18, S.D=

1.67). An important barrier that needs considering is that opening blinds seems be associated

with some privacy concerns (mean=3.50, S.D.=1.92).


These data suggest that making “turning the computer off” and “unplugging appliances”

more accessible in the minds of residence hall dwellers may increase behavior. They also suggest

that we remind residence hall dwellers that their dorms would be more aesthetically pleasing if

their appliances were unplugged. Finally, the data suggest that if we make the belief that their

“mood will improve” when using daylight over artificial light belief more accessible that

students may be more likely to turn off the light during the day.

Segmenting Audience

We considered segmenting the audience as “underclassmen” which would include

first and second year undergraduate students and “upperclassmen” which would include third

and fourth year undergraduate students. Yet, data revealed that there was no significant

difference between the two groups. A problem that may arise if we choose to segment is the

possibility that other segments of our population may be exposed to messages that are not

intended for them. Our audience is a homogenous group that is part of a close-knit environment.

For these reasons we opted not to segment our audience.

Campaign Environment

Florida State University is a large university campus in the capital city of Tallahassee,

Florida. Around 7,000 students at FSU live in residence halls on campus (Swiman, 2015). This

campaign will deal specifically with reduction of energy usage in Deviney and Dorman Halls.

According to floor plan layouts on the official FSU website, both of these residence halls’

bedrooms have windows, allowing residents to use natural sunlight if they choose to do so

(Residence Halls - FSU.edu, 2015). According to information gathered during our focus group,

each residence hall room has about eight electrical outlets, which could work in our favor


because there are fewer outlets, meaning residents would have fewer appliances to unplug should

they receive our message. In addition, FSU has eight bus routes with buses running from 7:00

A.M. all the way to 3:00 A.M., meaning that any messages we place on buses will have both a

wide reach and frequency to both on and off campus residents (Transportation and Parking -

FSU.edu, 2015). Going off of these physical traits of the environment of FSU, we found during

our primary research that FSU students tend to hold strong biospheric values, which is in

alignment with the typically liberal skew seen on college and university campuses (Rotham, et.

al., 2005). We can use this traditional political environment to our advantage because students

will be more open to our appeals to these biospheric and liberal values.

According to FSU, 65% of freshman and 20% of all students live in university housing,

which includes co-ed, women-only, single student residence halls, disability-accessible housing,

and fraternity and sorority houses (2015). This means that the placement of our messages in

residence halls and around campus will reach a large portion of students, especially those who

are participating in our semester-long competition between Deviney and Dorman Halls. We hope

this will help affect the change in behavior of students concerning turning off their computers

when not in use. By seeing other students with our promotional items with our message on it,

they will feel expected to follow suit and perform the behavior communicated because of the

fostered social norms they have felt on campus.

Campaign Objectives

Initially this project was aimed at the overarching energy consumption problem in college

residence halls. Throughout the research process, three main behaviors were determined to be the

most detrimental to low energy practices: leaving laptop computers constantly powered on,


leaving other personal appliances (e.g. TV, gaming systems, phone chargers) plugged in while

not in use, and using artificial lighting when daylight was a perfectly good substitute. Based on

our measurements, it is apparent that changing these behaviors will have the greatest impact on

the environment, as well as on the residence hall dwellers themselves. We will attempt to change

these behaviors with our campaign messages and strategies, and we intend to measure their

success but looking at the following goals:

Overall Agenda

To decrease the amount of money spent by the University on energy every month, while

instilling a stronger sense of environmentalism and awareness in students across campus.

Behavioral Objectives (Over the first semester that the campaign is implemented in)

1. Increase the percentage of students that power their computer completely off whenever

they are not directly using their devices for more than 15 minutes by 25%.

2. Increase the percentage of students that unplug their personal appliances (e.g. TV, video

game system, phone charger) whenever they are not in use by 25%.

3. Increase the amount of students who are using daylight instead of artificial light by 15%.

Belief Objectives (Over the first semester that the campaign is implemented in)

1. Decrease the mean score (4.23/7) of the students belief that turning off their computer is

difficult to remember by at least 2 points.

2. Increase the mean score (3.31/7) of the students belief that unplugging their appliances

will make their room look better by at least 2 points.

3. Increase the mean score (5.18/7) of the students belief that their mood will improve by

1.82 points.


Campaign and Message Strategies

After both primary and secondary research through our focus group, survey, and

literature review, we decided on using information and education, prompts, commitments, and

incentives as our energy-saving campaign strategies. Information and education of students is

important to campaign success, so we plan to include the URL to a specific page on the FSU

Sustainability website on every facet of our campaign that students can go to in order to learn

more about the facts we have used to create our campaign and get feedback on their energy

conservation progress (Erlene et. al., 2012). This website will also contain information about our

planned competition. While information and education are important, we realize that these are

not enough to elicit behavior changes, hence our use of the other strategies in this campaign.

Our use of prompts will be visible through several facets of our campaign. The first will

be light-switch cover stickers that will be in each dorm room. A series of light prompts will be

made so that the student has the choice to change them every month. These stickers will

incorporate FSU favorite Fireball Whiskers, the campus cat who is so famous he even has his

own Facebook page. Based on the Atkin, et. al. study, we know the use of mascots is successful

when implementing a campaign to change behaviors (2004).

A large part of our campaign will utilize Fireball Whiskers as a social media savvy cat

with his own Instagram and Twitter accounts. We are going to implement the hashtag

#whiskerssays into every facet of our campaign that features him to create an integrated,

cohesive message that is repeated and exposed to students multiple times, making it more

memorable and them more likely to act on it. We want to put Fireball Whiskers in recognizable

album covers of recent hit songs with twists that encourage turning off the lights. This will


promote a sense of group identity, which will increase the likelihood that subjective and

descriptive norm perceptions will increase behavior. Students will see Fireball Whiskers and

think that people close to them, such as their fellow FSU students, expect them to turn off the

light switch when they leave the room (McKenzie-Mohr 2014). We know prompts must be

visible at the time and location of the desired behavior, in this case, turning off the light switch.

They will also encourage a good behavior, which is more effective than the discouragement of a

negative behavior. It will also be clear and straightforward to ensure proper comprehension of

the message by the user.

We also plan to utilize the concept of accessibility with our campaign. We want to

capitalize on a humorous approach and take the image of a text message from My Computer

saying “I love it when you turn me off” and a flirty emoji and put it on multiple items to increase

recency and frequency (Roskos-Ewoldsen et. al., 2002). We plan to put this image on bus wraps,

stickers, RA boards, door posters, and sidewalk chalk art. In addition to this, we want to plan a

smaller scale competition between the two main residence halls focusing on social media. On the

Fireball Whiskers Instagram page, we will post a photo of each hall, and the hall with the most

likes at the end of the competition will get a table of free promotional materials with our message

printed on them in their dorm. This will encourage people to follow our accounts in order to get

us in their news feeds and keep us in mind when they are about to do the actions we want them

to. In addition, the promotional gear will also help spread and promote our message around

campus.

A key insight we gleaned from our survey data is that students think too many cords are

unsightly and make a room look cluttered. We want to use this to encourage them to unplug

appliances while not in use. Our concept for this message will be Fireball Whiskers posting a


#transformationtuesday photo on his Instagram page of a room with many viable cords next to a

photo of the same room without cords. This message will be dispersed on posters hanging in the

residence halls and on bus wraps. More exposure to this message will make it more accessible in

the minds of the students.

Another campaign strategy we plan to implement will be commitment. We plan to

sponsor a competition between Deviney and Dorman residence halls on campus to see which hall

can use less energy over the course of the semester, with Wildwood residence hall used as a

control due to its similar floor plan layouts in order to measure campaign success. There will be

sign-up boards in the hallways where students can pledge to participate in the competition and

receive a wristband that guarantees them a free tee shirt at the end. This public declaration of

commitment holds them accountable for their promised actions. We plan to get RAs to sign up

and act as block leaders in order to inspire the residents to join in and conserve energy as well.

According to the Self Perception Theory, by providing the residents the opportunity to perform

energy-saving actions, they will increase their positive attitudes regarding those behaviors,

especially for repetitive behaviors. As seen in the Erlene et. al. Virginia Tech case study, when

students already place a higher value on environmental sustainability, they are more susceptible

to sustainability campaigns (2012). This is great news for us. We know from our focus group

data that FSU students place a high value on environmental issues, so this means they will be

more open to hearing our messages and showing that they care about these issues. Providing

residents an opportunity to publicly pledge their support for the project will give them a chance

to show their biospheric altruism and visibly commit to performing those actions repeatedly at a

later date, which has also been shown to change attitudes in participants.


Our final campaign strategy will be the use of incentives, mainly in the form of a pizza,

ice cream, and bounce house party for the resident hall residents who use the least amount of

energy during the competition. The Peterson et. al. case study shows a distinct link between

feedback and incentives and a significant reduction in energy usage in the residence halls at

Oberlin College (2007). We took this information and decided to apply it to our campaign. These

results were also seen in the Bekker et. al. New Zealand residence hall study, where use of visual

prompts and incentives were successful in trying to encourage residence hall residents to

decrease energy usage (2010). The Bekker et. al. study used a similar incentive to ours: a pizza

party for the winners of the energy conservation competition. These case studies support our

choice to use incentives as a strategy in our campaign.

Implementation Plan

The duration of this campaign is one semester. The main website with the general

information about energy use, competition rules, and other resources will be launched before the

semester starts so that it will be accessible for students before the actual competition begins.

Fireball Whiskers’ Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts also be launched at this time.

These accounts will be updated weekly with different humorous messages that make our targeted

behaviors accessible. Physical messages will be displayed on campus beginning at the time that

students return to campus for the semester. The on campus messages, such as, RA boards, flyers,

screensavers, sidewalk chalk, and bus wraps will be monitored throughout the campaign. They

will be modified and updated as needed. The competition will begin the second week of the

semester. It will come to a close two weeks before final exams. This is to assure that we have


enough time to calculate the energy consumption data, announce a winner, and plan the party for

the winning residence hall. The actual party will be held the week before finals week.

Evaluation Plan

This campaign will primarily use the pre/postcomparison and predetermined control

group design. Because our campaign relies heavily on competition a third group will added to

the design. This group will be another intervention group with a pretest and a posttest. While our

control group will not be active participants in the competition there is no way to assure that they

will not be exposed to campaign messages around campus. A survey will be given to the

participants in all three groups the first week of the semester to measure their initial beliefs,

attitudes, and existent behaviors. This may have to change depending on the semester the

campaign is implemented due to the fact that in the fall semester many of the residents may not

have had the experience of living in a residence hall before. This could make some of the

variables in the survey seem irrelevant to them at the time. The post test will be given to the

students a week after the competition comes to a close. We will be using the same survey that

was used when collecting data for this campaign. To see a copy of the survey please reference

the appendix on page 30.


Appendix

I. Methodology

Focus groups were conducted in the target residence halls Dorman and Deviney. Students

were given snacks and drinks as an incentive to participate. While three focus groups were

conducted there were few students who attended each. There was a total of 11 participants. We

were particularly interested in benefits and barriers of our suggested pro-environmental

behaviors. Initially, we were interested in increasing use of power strips as well as getting them

to turn the power strips off when not in use. When asked about their existing power strip

behaviors participants raised issues that seemed to diminish the feasibility of our primary

objectives. For example, when asked about turning off the power strip when not in use one

participant responded with “I’ll never turn it off because my roommate also uses it. I wouldn’t

feel right turning it off even if I know she’s not using it in that moment.” Participants were also

asked about what incentives would motivate them. Participants suggested that free food and t-

shirts were incentives that have worked to motivate them in the past. Other suggested motivators

were more vending machines, more ice machines, etc. A complete overview of the focus group

can be found in the appendix on page 24.

Our target behaviors then changed to more simple and direct behaviors: using daylight

over artificial light, unplugging appliances whenever they are not in use, and shutting off a

computer completely when not in use for more than 15 minutes. We created a survey with 56

items that were intended to measure injunctive and descriptive norms, values, attitudes, and

existing behaviors. Convenience sampling via the intercept method was used. Researchers went

to high density areas on the FSU campus to collect data. Participants were offered candy if they


completed the survey. There was a total of 223 respondents. The campaign strategy was created

based on the data analyzed.

Measurement of Values

This study was interested in the extent to which the sample population, residence halls

dwellers, held biospheric values. This was assessed with four items-- preventing pollution,

respecting the earth, unity with nature, and protecting the environment—where 1 was labeled

“opposed to my values” and 7 was labeled “extremely important.” The sample population scored

moderately high on biospheric values (mean= 5.49, S.D=1.23).

Measurement of Attitudes

Attitudes toward the our three target behaviors were measured with six items. Each

behavior was operationalized by two items. Semantic differential scales were used. For each

behavior participants were asked whether the behavior was Bad (1)/Good (7) and Undesirable

(1)/ Desirable (7).

Measurement of Behavior

Existing behaviors were measured with three items. The behavior of turning off

the computer when not in use was measured by one item (“How often do you turn off your

computer (shut it down completely) when you are not using it?). The behavior of unplugging

personal appliances was measured by one item (How often do you unplug your personal

electronics (e.g. television, video game system, phone charger, NOT your computer) when you

are not using them?). The behavior of using daylight instead of artificial light was measured by

one item (How often do you open your blinds/curtains during the day to use natural light instead

of turning on the light?). Each of these items were answered on a scale of 1-7 where one was

“Never” and seven was “Always”.


Measurement of Norms

Social norms were measured by five items which included injunctive norm statements

like “My roommate/s or suitemate/s expect me to turn off my computer when I am not in using

it” and descriptive norm statements like“My roommate/s or suitemate/s regularly turn off their

computers when not in use.” Social norms for the unplugging appliance behavior were measured

by 5 items that include injunctive norm statements like “My roommate/s or suitemate/s expect

me to unplug my personal electronics when I am not using or charging them” and descriptive

norms statements like “My roommate/s or suitemate/s unplug their electronics when not using

them or charging them.” Norms for using daylight over artificial light was measured by four

items that include injunctive norm statements like “My roommate/s or suitemate/s expect me to

use daylight at home rather than turning on the lights” and descriptive statements like “Most

FSU students use daylight at home rather than turning on the lights. Each of these items was

measured on a scale of 1-7 where one was Strongly Disagree and seven is Strongly Agree. The

complete survey can be found in the appendix on page 30.

II. Focus Group Summary

Methodology and Respondent Specifications

The methodology used in this research was conducting a focus group, lasting 60 minutes in total

for all respondents (N=3). We aimed to get to the core of students’ attitudes towards energy conservation;

specifically, what their attitudes were towards plugging their appliances into a power strip and switching

off the power strip when appliances were not in use.

Participants were recruited with the help of those at University Housing. Our participants were

current residents in two of the residence halls on the campus that the campaign will take place on.


The focus group was conducted at noon on Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015, in the lounge of the Dorman

Building. Of the three participants, all of them are freshmen. The respondents were assured that their

identities would not be associated with their answers and were encouraged to speak freely.

Attitudes Towards Energy Conservation

All the respondents believed that conserving energy was important and they all considered

themselves as conservationists to some degree. Two respondents mentioned conserving energy was

important in order to preserve the environment. One respondent mentioned that keeping costs down was a

main reason to conserve energy. However, all respondents felt uncomfortable approaching others about

correcting energy-wasting behaviors. When asked if they would approach their roommate about turning

off a light that’s not in use one participant said it is more common to say, “ Could you turn the lights off,

it is really distracting.” than to say, “ Could you please turn the light off to save energy?” The other

participants agreed that they would not approach the roommate at all.

When asked to describe someone who conserved energy one participant was quoted as saying

“they’re always talking about it.” This seemed to be a negative trait. Two participants felt that someone

who is too extreme would draw others away. When asked if they believed that people on campus were

concerned about conserving energy one participant answered “I think people understand it’s important but

it’s not a priority.” When asked to list some environmentally friendly behaviors, two participants

mentioned conserving water, one mentioned switching off lights when leaving the house, and one

mentioned keeping blinds open for natural light.

All participants had power strips in their dorms and all three participants brought the power strips

from their parents’ homes. All participants agreed that the main reason to use a power strip in a dorm is

because “it would be difficult not to have one.” The participant was referring to the lack of outlets in the

dormitory. The participant, also, mentioned that some of the outlets were in spaces that were difficult to

reach. Only one participant was aware that using a power strip (and turning it off when not in use) could

help conserve energy.


Barriers

● Participants agreed that because they did not pay for electricity, the motivation to conserve was

not as high. They all agreed that this made a significant difference in their behavior.

● One participant admitted that it was easy to forget to turn off the lights-- even when no one was in

the dormitory.

● All participants felt it was awkward to approach their roommates about turning off lights that are

not in use.

● Two participants mentioned that turning off power strips would be a “hassle” because they would

have to reset everything.

● Two participants mentioned that the power strip in their dormitory was being used by multiple

people. Turning it off would mean turning off their roommates appliances and they felt

uncomfortable with this idea.

● Water temperature for taking showers is inconsistent; it takes time for water to heat up. Taking a

shorter shower is, therefore, difficult to complete.

Incentives

● One participant mentioned that prizes would be a great incentive for promoters to draw

audience’s attention to the idea.

● One participant mentioned that food, drinks, and T-shirts would encourage people to pay

attention to a campaign.

Others

One participant mentioned that it would be important to have an important figure represent or be a part of

the campaign. Also, one respondent suggested that allowing the students to take a tour of the energy


facility would be helpful and would allow students to acquire a better understanding of how energy works

on the FSU campus. Two participants agreed that this would generate interest in students.

III. Message Samples


IV. Test Survey

Energy Use In Your Home

We are students in the School of Communication and would like to know what you think about

issues related to energy use in your living space. This survey is being done as part of a class

project under the direction of Dr. Laura Arpan (Professor in the School of Communication).

Your answers to the questions below will remain anonymous. If you have any questions, please

contact Dr. Arpan by email ([email protected]). Thank you for your participation.

1. Where do you currently live?

- Residence hall

- House

- Apartment

- Fraternity/Sorority house

- Condominium

- Other

2. How often do you turn off your computer (shut it down completely) when you are not using

it?

Never Always

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


3. How often do you unplug your personal electronics (e.g., television, video game system,

phone charger, NOT your computer) when you are not using them?

Never Always

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. How often do you open your blinds/curtains during the day to use natural light instead of

turning on the lights?

Never Always

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please respond to the following statements about your feelings.

5. Overall, I think turning off my personal computer when it is not in use is...

Bad Good

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Undesirable Desirable

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


6. Overall, I think unplugging my personal electronics (e.g., TV, video game system, phone

charger) when I'm not using them is...

Bad Good

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7. Overall, I think using daylight rather than turning on the lights whenever possible is...

Bad Good

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8. Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements about turning off

(completely shutting down) your personal computer when not using it.

My roommate/s or suite mate/s expect me to turn off my computer when I am not using it.


Strongly Disagree Strongly

Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

My roommate/s or suite mate/s regularly turn off their computers when not in use.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other FSU students expect me to turn off my computer when I'm not using it.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Most FSU students turn off their computers when they are not in use.

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The FSU administration expects students to turn off computers when they are not in use.



Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

It is difficult to remember to turn off my personal computer when I'm not using it.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I don't have time to turn off my personal computer when I am not using it.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Turning off my personal computer will not save much energy.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Turning off my personal computer will protect the environment.



Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I could lose my work/important documents if I regularly turn off my computer when not using it.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Turning off my computer when I'm not using it will improve its performance.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10. Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements about

unplugging personal electronics (e.g., television, video game system, phone charger, NOT

your computer) when you are not using or charging them.

My roommate/s or suite mate/s expect me to unplug my personal electronics when I am not using

or charging them.



Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other FSU students expect me to turn off my personal electronics when I'm not using or

charging them.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

My roommate/s or suite mate/s regularly unplug their personal electronics when not using or

charging them.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Most FSU students unplug personal electronics when not using or charging them.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


The FSU administration expects students to unplug personal electronics when not in use or being

charged.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

My room or dwelling would look better if I regularly unplugged my personal electronics when

not using or charging them.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

It is difficult to remember to unplug my personal electronics.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

It is difficult to reach plugs or outlets in order to unplug my personal electronics.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I don't have time to unplug my personal electronics when I am not using or charging them.



Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unplugging personal electronics when I am not using them will cause conflicts with my

roommate.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unplugging my personal electronics when not using or charging them will not much save

energy.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unplugging my personal electronics will protect the environment.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


Unplugging my personal electronics when not using or charging them will increase the chance of

losing something (like my phone charger).


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

12. Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements about using

daylight, rather than turning on the lights whenever possible.

My roommate/s or suite mate/s expect me to use daylight at home rather than turning on the

lights.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other FSU students expect me to use daylight when at home rather than turning on the lights.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Most FSU students use daylight at home rather than turning on the lights.



Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The FSU administration expects students to use daylight at home rather than turning on the

lights.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

It is difficult to remember to open blinds/curtains to use daylight rather than turning on the lights.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

It is difficult to reach or open my blinds/curtains in order to use daylight rather than turning on

the lights.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I don't have time to open the blinds/curtains to use daylight.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


Using daylight rather than turning on the lights will cause conflicts with my roommate.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Using daylight instead of turning on the lights during the day will not save much energy.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Using daylight instead of turning on the lights whenever possible will protect the environment.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I don't want to open my blinds/curtains because of privacy concerns.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Opening the blinds/curtains to use daylight will make my room/home too hot.



Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I would not use daylight instead of turning on the lights in my room/home because my

room/home does not get enough daylight.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I can't use daylight instead of turning on lights because my blinds/curtains don't operate

correctly.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

My mood will improve if I use daylight instead of turning on the lights whenever possible.


Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


14. To what extent are the following values important as a guiding principle to your life?

Preventing pollution: protecting natural resources

Opposed to Extremely

my values important

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Respecting the earth: harmony with other species


my values important

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Unity with nature: fitting into nature


my values important

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Protecting the environment: preserving nature


my values important

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please place a check mark next to your selection.


What is your gender?

m Male

m Female

What is your year in school?

m 1st year undergraduate

m 2nd year undergraduate

m 3rd year undergraduate

m 4th year undergraduate

m 5th year undergraduate

m Graduate or professional

m Not seeking a degree

m Other ____________________

Which group do you most closely identify with?

m White

m Black

m Hispanic/Latin American

m Asian or Pacific Islander

m Multiracial

m Other ____________________

m Prefer not to answer

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE WITH OUR STUDY


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resident hall campaign proposal

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