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The Method Book
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7
Researching your target audience: Why do people do what they do?

Introduction

Chapter

7

Researching your target audience: Why do people do what they do?

In Chapter 6, we introduced you to the Deep Dive phase of The Method, where we delve into our audience/s beliefs and behaviours. In Chapter 7 - available below - we discuss the importance of choosing the right research method to engage with our audience/s and gather the insights and data we need to move forward our interventions.

Why do people do what they do?

How do we find out what motivates or prevents a target audience from engaging in a desired behaviour? By conducting audience research.

In Chapter 7 - available right - we introduce you to a selection of tools that are commonly used to engage with various audiences. We explore the pros and cons of these tools and provide practical tips on how to better understand why people do the things they do.

Further resources

Influences, further reading and blog posts related to this chapter. 

SoGoSurvey

Best Practices in Survey Design (video).

The good, the bad and the ugly in survey design

Have a go at our special survey and think about how you would improve it.

Essentials of research methods: A guide to social science research.

A concise and accessible introduction to research methods used in the social sciences. The book, written by Janet M. Ruane, encourages the reader to use their experiences of everyday life to understand and perform research methods.

The Interview Research Method

This simple but practical guide by Dr. Saul McLeod explains how different types of questions can be used to generate different types of data.

How to use mixed methods research

Mixing data sets can give a better understanding of the problem and yield more complete evidence (depth and breadth). It can also strengthen findings. This article explores the philosophical underpinnings of these mixed methodologies.

Project

The village raises the child

If you knew a family was struggling, would you babysit for them? Cook a meal maybe? 
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Project

Encouraging Victorians to value nature

The Victorian Government’s Biodiversity 2037 plan seeks to reduce the decline of our native plants and animals and improve the natural environment so that it is healthy, valued and actively cared for. A key goal of Biodiversity 2037 is Victorians Value Nature, which includes multiple priorities around raising the public’s awareness of biodiversity, facilitating occasions for people to connect with nature and increasing opportunities for Victorians to act for nature.
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Which behaviours are driving our wasteful ways with food?

In New South Wales, the average household disposes of around six litres of food waste a week. Run by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), the Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) program seeks to raise awareness about the environmental, economic and social impacts of food waste as a strategy for reducing the amount of food waste being sent to landfill.
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Making Australia a digitally-inclusive society

Despite what we hear about the take-up of digital technology in Australia, figures suggest that one in seven of us (around three million Australians) rarely or never use the internet. While this may be a choice for some, others risk being left behind as more and more services shift online. The recently-formed Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance (ADIA) is a shared initiative involving over 100 business, government, academic and community organisations, which are working together to reduce the digital divide and enable greater social and economic participation for all Australians. The alliance is backed by Australia Post, Google and Telstra, with participants throughout the country from all sectors.
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Lowering infection risk for spinal cord injury patients

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in a loss of voluntary control of the urinary bladder. This increases the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs), the most frequent condition that causes SCI patients to present to hospital emergency departments. Research has shown that the ongoing use of indwelling catheters, which stay in the bladder for a prolonged period and drain urine into a bag, results in a greater risk of UTI compared to intermittent catheters (IC), which drain urine and remove it immediately. Despite this evidence, the transition from indwelling to IC after an initial SCI was taking too long – 67 days based on an audit of 143 patients.
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BehaviourWorks offers a broad range of research services to government and non-government organisations.

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