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CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter will report on the analysis, major findings and results of the study. Inferential analytical methods such as the correlation and regression techniques referred to in Chapter two were used to test the first hypothesis presented in Chapter one. Bivariate analytical methods such as t-tests were used to test the second and third hypotheses also referred to in Chapter one. A synthesis was then drawn from the data obtained.
The fourth hypothesis could not be analysed as too many of the respondents either failed to answer Question 12, which dealt with the professions or past professions of parents or only wrote the name of the company or factory where the parent worked, instead of the parent’s profession. The fact that respondents were Afrikaans speaking might have resulted in them not understanding what this particular question required from them.
CORRELATION ANALYSES
Pearson correlation coefficients using the SAS software package were calculated to establish whether a linear association existed between the criterion variable ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ and measurements of the classification variables ‘environmental information’, ‘environmental attitudes’ and ‘environmentally responsible behaviour’. This was done to test the first hypothesis stating that:
GLOBE learners are more positive in their attitudes toward, their perceptions of and their environmentally directed behaviour than non-GLOBE learners.
The level of significance (alpha) at which the H0 would be rejected or not rejected was 0.05 (5%). What this means is that the calculated p-value would be compared to the alpha of 0.05 and if it was smaller or equal to the alpha, the H0 would be rejected as it means that there was only a 5% or lesser chance that the coefficients were not significant, indicating a linear association between the compared variables (UNISA, 1997, p. 101). If the p-value was however greater than alpha, the H0 would not be rejected, indicating that there was no relationship or association between the compared variables.
Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to establish the association if any between the measurements of ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’, ‘responsibility to protect the environment’7, ‘solving environmental problems yourself’ and ‘own actions to solve environmental problems’. This was also done to test the part of the hypothesis that deals with perceptions and attitudes. These variables were derived from Question 3, which requested respondents to indicate who is more responsible for protecting the environment, the individual or government; Question 4, which requested respondents to indicate whether there are some things they can do themselves to solve environmental problems, and Question 5 which requested respondents to indicate whether they have done anything to help solve environmental problems. No relationship could be established between the variable ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ and these other variables as the levels of significance were too low. The intercorrelations were all lower than 0.29 with p > 0.05. This means that respondents participating in the GLOBE programme did not differ from respondents not participating in the programme with regard to their views on government and individual responsibility to protect the environment, personal actions than can be taken to solve environmental problems and active contributions to solving environmental problems. These variables have therefore been discarded from further comparisons.
Creating a Pearson correlation coefficient for the variables ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ and ‘environmental attitudes’, using the CORR procedure, showed a p-value (0.0004) that was notably smaller than the alpha of 0.05. What this showed is that the H0 had to be rejected at the 5% level of significance. One may conclude therefore that there was a significant linear association (r =0.50; p < 0.05) between the variable ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ and this investigation’s measurement of ‘environmental attitudes’. One may further infer from this that participating in the GLOBE programme was significantly associated with a positive attitudinal directedness towards the environment. Participation in the GLOBE programme can therefore be described as a good general indicator of pro-environmental attitudes.
The correlation coefficient for the comparison between ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ and the measurement of ‘environmental information’ (r =0.06) however, yielded a p-value of 0.7 that was greater than the alpha of 0.05 and the H0 could therefore not be rejected at the 5% level of significance. What this means is that there was no linear association between participating in the GLOBE programme and environmental perception. As such, no difference existed between the criterion groups with regard to the sources of environmental information used by the respondents.
This finding is significant in that it indicates that access to sources of environmental information does not necessarily result in people adopting environmentally sound perceptions or becoming environmentally concerned citizens. One therefore needs to find that which distinguish between those who are environmentally aware and or concerned and those who are not, elsewhere.
A Pearson correlation coefficient, using the CORR procedure of the SAS software package was used to compare the variable ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ with the variables ‘environmentally responsible behaviour’ and ‘club membership’. This was done in order to test whether GLOBE participants generally tended to engage in more environmentally oriented and environmentally responsible behaviour than non-GLOBE participants for the purpose of assessing the second part of the hypothesis.
Correlating the variable ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ with ‘environmentally responsible behaviour’ and ‘club membership’ yielded coefficients (r = 0.58; p < 0.05) and (0.91; p < 0.05) respectively. What this showed was that the H0 had to be rejected at the 5% level of significance in both cases. One may therefore conclude that there was a significant linear association between participating in the GLOBE programme and environmentally responsible behaviour and club membership respectively. One may therefore infer that GLOBE participants tended to engage in more positive or environmentally oriented and environmentally responsible behaviour than non-GLOBE learners.
In summary, the correlational analyses yielded the following results. GLOBE respondents were able to identify more environmental problems than non-GLOBE respondents and to a greater extent appreciated the seriousness that these identified environmental problems pose for the environment. Despite this, a significant association could not be established between the variables ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ and ‘environmental information’. One should also take into account that some other variables used in an attempt to assess a relationship between participating in the GLOBE programme and pro-environmental perceptions (as well as environmental attitudes) yielded insignificant correlations. One may infer from this that GLOBE respondents did not necessarily have access to more or better sources of environmental information than non-participants. Despite this they were still able to better appreciate the fact that the earth faces serious environmental problems.
In addition, the analyses tended to support the conclusion that GLOBE participants were more positive in their attitudes towards the environment and tended to engage in more environmentally oriented actions and behaviours than their non-GLOBE counterparts and the second part of the hypothesis has therefore been verified.
The aim of this research study as stipulated in Chapter one, was to determine whether participating in the GLOBE programme could be related to positive environmental perceptions, environmental attitudes and level of environmentally responsible behaviour. From the above-mentioned findings it would appear that the answer to this question is a qualified yes, given the inability to establish an association between participation in the GLOBE programme and access to environmental information along with a few other attitudinal and behavioural indicators.
It should also be noted that the measurement of the ‘participation in the GLOBE programme’ variable has a built-in bias and one cannot say with absolute certainty that it is in fact their participation in the GLOBE programme that has resulted in GLOBE participants exhibiting more positive attitudes and actions towards the environment than non-GLOBE participants. It may be that they had joined the programme precisely because they are more positive in their attitudes and actions towards the environment than those who had chosen not to join the programme.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
ABSTRACT
1 CHAPTER ONE: AIM, LITERATURE REVIEW AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 DISCUSSION OF RELEVANT TERMS
1.3 DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES
1.4 FORMING ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES ….
1.5 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR
1.6 ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOUR
1.7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR
1.8 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
1.9 THE GLOBAL LEARNING AND OBSERVATIONS TO BENEFIT THE ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME
1.10 PROBLEM STATEMENT
CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY.
2.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
2.2 DATA-GATHERING INSTRUMENT
2.3 DATA-GATHERING PROCEDURE
2.4 SAMPLE REALISATION AND COMPOSITION
2.5 OPERATIONALISATION AND CODING OF THE CLASSIFICATION VARIABLES
CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 CORRELATION ANALYSES
3.3 MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS
3.4 BIVARIATE ANALYSES OF RESPONDENTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE GLOBE PROGRAMME
3.5 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 TESTING THE HYPOTHESES
4.3 CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
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