Environmental Interpretation Evaluation in Natural Areas

By J. Munro, A. Morrison‐Saunders, M. Hughes. 2008

107 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Environmental interpretation is widely assumed to influence visitor behaviour and reduce impacts on a natural site. Assumptions of cause and effect are difficult to attribute and relatively few studies evaluate the effects of interpretation on visitor behaviours. We reviewed a sample of the interpretation evaluation literature available through online databases. We looked at the internal validity of evaluative studies and compared different interpretive approaches in terms of outcomes. Findings indicate an evaluative emphasis on quantifying knowledge gain and attitude change with few studies extending to measurement of behavioural change. The large number of possible variables and small number of completed studies prevent substantive conclusions on the role of interpretation in promoting more sustainable visitor behaviour. Further research is needed in terms of robust evaluative studies to facilitate development of a clear understanding of interpretive programs' influence on visitor behaviour. It is problematic to assess environmental interpretation as a visitor management tool until further such evaluative studies are performed.

Subfields: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/778513605bd0c7d6e0f3388add610dd3b3b5401d

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In Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

In Social Psychology

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

The influence of recreation experience and environmental attitude on the environmentally responsible behavior of community-based tourists in Taiwan (2015, background): “Future studies should examine other factors that may influence ERB, such as interpretative education (Frauman & Norman, 2003; Kohl, 2005; Munro et al., 2008; Orams, 1996, 1997; Powell & Ham, 2008), place satisfaction (Ramkissoon et al.”
Does more interpretation lead to greater outcomes? An assessment of the impacts of multiple layers of interpretation in a zoo context (2009, background): “A number of studies have succeeded in identifying and measuring specific cognitive (knowing), affective (feeling) and behavioural (doing) outcomes of interpretation (see, eg, the reviews by Ham & Weiler, 2006 , and Munro, Morrison-Saunders, & Hughes, 2008 ), including the impacts of interpretation”