Primary and Secondary Research Behind the Initiative
Primary and secondary research were critical in the development of the It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air initiative, including a comprehensive review of literature on transportation and air quality public education programs, focus groups, pilot testing, and a demonstration phase.
Literature Review: National, regional, and local transportation and air quality public education programs showed a need for a national program flexible enough to be tailored at the local level. Although many organizations already had transportation and air quality public education programs, the research indicated a need to focus on traffic congestion and quality of life issues—meaningful issues for drivers—in addition to health issues.
Stakeholder Groups: Moderated discussion groups with potential stakeholders revealed insights into the challenges and potential obstacles of a national transportation and air quality public education initiative. The sessions included representatives from industry, states, metropolitan planning organizations, and associations and nongovernmental organizations. These groups said:
- State and local transportation planners and air quality regulators need help in meeting their congestion and air quality objectives under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the Clean Air Act (CAA).
- Transportation and air quality organizations have limited resources to meet these goals.
- Past state and local-level public education messages about transportation and air quality issues were inconsistent and confusing.
- The messages need to be acceptable to both consumers and the stakeholders who will fund their dissemination.
Target Audience Research: To identify segments of the general public most amenable to changing their transportation choices to improve air quality, the federal agencies reviewed research on public transportation habits, attitudes, and behaviors regarding the environment. The analysis suggested further study was needed of people who might be willing to change their transportation habits in order to improve air quality.
These studies included:
- The Environment: Public Attitudes and Individual Behavior (a long-term study of consumer attitudes and behaviors related to the environment by the Roper Organization, Inc.)
- The Mediamark Research, Inc. Index (syndicated market research on purchasing behaviors, categorized by demographics and media used) and additional regional and state quantitative and qualitative research.
Focus groups were held to gain insights into transportation and air quality issues affecting the general public and also to identify potential communication strategies for developing the education initiative. These groups revealed the following:
- Citizens do not understand the link between transportation choices, traffic congestion, and air quality.
- Citizens are largely unaware of the range of alternatives to solo-driving.
- Air quality and transportation are typically not high-priority issues for citizens.
- Citizens feel that government and industry should share responsibility for improving air quality and congestion.
Thus, the target audience for It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air became drivers who recognize that air pollution is a problem and that they personally can make a difference to reduce pollution caused by automobile exhaust. This segment is primarily college-educated and middle-class.
Concept and Message Testing: The next round of focus groups revealed that many people aren’t convinced that environmental benefits are reason enough to change their behaviors and indicated that other benefits were much more relevant. The participants revealed the following:
- They were not blind to their area's environmental challenges, but other problems had higher priority.
- They were aware of alternatives to driving alone.
- They believed they were already taking steps to improve local air quality.
The strategy, therefore, shifted to targeting the general driving public and, secondarily, those for whom environmental benefits would weigh into their transportation choices.
Overall Literature Review and Market Research Highlights:
- Transportation and air quality stakeholders identified a need to educate citizens about the effect of individual transportation choices on air quality and congestion.
- Organizations would greatly benefit from sharing expertise, messages, and tools designed to educate citizens.
- A national public education effort implemented at the local level would allow:
- personal interaction with drivers at the local level
- broader dissemination of messages
- positioning of transportation and air quality issues as a national priority
- Messages about air quality and congestion should:
- have a credible rationale
- stress the voluntary aspect of individual action
- be encouraging and positive in tone and substance
- suggest simple and convenient options
- speak to both consumers and organizations