Awareness Impact Measurement

See also Awareness (general page)

The awareness-raising campaigns aim to educate the general public on discussed issues. Depending on the subject, they can include methods such as issuing press releases, briefings, and commentaries; disseminating reports, studies and publications; making written or oral submissions to parliamentary committees and inquiries; working with the media; holding public meetings and events; convening conferences and workshops, and creating and contributing to educational materials.

Success definition
As a success of the awareness spreading campaign, we consider the long-lasting change in the behavior paradigm of the population or/and the successful influence on the decision-making actors. Depending on the field, the characteristics of the successful campaign may vary. Nevertheless, as suggested by the SDG, an effective intervention includes: setting the goal, setting the objectives, finding a target group, adjusting the message and the tools, and monitoring and evaluating the progress.

''"There is evidence about key factors for success: targeting, networking, and use of SMART objectives; continuous evaluation; and complementarity to national and international policy." ''

Measurement methods
Most current studies utilize interviews or tests to quantify behavioral changes. Subjective approaches include the Perceptual awareness scale (PAS), Confidence ratings (CR), Post-decision wagering (PDW), and Feeling of warmth, among others. Objective technologies are those that use choice analysis in a carefully controlled setting.

The relativity of abstract categories may distort the precision of the subjective awareness impact measurement. Another problem, which may lead to the under-reporting of important information, is the lack of preparation by participants. Finally, the so-called observer paradox makes it difficult to do a thorough study. Because of its narrow approach, the objective methods are also inaccurate.

Effectiveness
The awareness spreading campaigns are proven to spur significant changes, especially concerning public debate. The impact on behavior changes varies depending on the measures and has a lower success rate. The awareness spreading works best as a supporting method, complementary to different measures.
 * Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses the Russian people on the Ukrainian war. Sotrender calls the video "the first such noteworthy attempt to use Telegram and reach Russian society". It concludes: "The video went viral, but did it reach the target audience? It is hard to precisely define how many Russians viewed the video but the number of shares on Ukrainian and Russian channels is rewarding. What we know for sure is that the video met with great reception in the west, and that Twitter together with Meta products were at the forefront when reaching the widest audience."