Resource Type: Experiments

At the Lab, we are wrapping up field research projects with six great partner climate advocacy organizations. While I can’t wait to share what we’ve learned once they are complete, today I wanted to provide some of my reflections on best practices for field research I’ve learned from these tests and other projects. Think of these as extra dollops of advice on top of our core guidance on research and testing and Learning 101*.

Does “evaluation” sound judgy, “research” feel like a luxury, “testing” pointless, or “data” too technical?
Then we welcome you to explore with us how developing a culture of testing, evaluation and learning is crucial to multiracial, cross-class organizing in the climate movement. Evaluation and learning allow you to get real-time feedback about what is working (or not), and the space to grow from your experience and make shifts to your work. So it’s crucial to understanding the areas we are successfully building power and where we need to experiment and iterate. If we can’t track and improve, how do we know if we are on the way to winning?

Learn how to improve your advocacy (quickly) with state of the art research techniques. The perennial conflict in research – quality vs. speed – is a compromise no more, with quick-turn-around numeric tools and always-on focus groups you can trust, rigorous public opinion research and detailed audience engagement measures. Join Potential Energy as they share tips on research methodology and tools, and how you can get for-profit insights on a non-profit budget. Find out how to get deeper audience understanding that will make your messages truly connect with your audience for greater impact.

Highlighting the negative health effects of using natural gas in the home may be the best way to increase opposition to gas. One recent experiment compared the potential effects of different frames about gas. Democratic and Democratic-leaning respondents who saw ads about negative health impacts from gas in homes were 11.8% less likely to say gas is a clean form of energy. Hispanic respondents, in particular, were more likely to be interested in purchasing appliances that don’t use gas, such as electric and induction stove tops, after viewing ads focused on individual consumer choice. In addition to health and consumer choice, this advertising experiment also tested the effects of other frames, such as advances in technology, safety, green jobs, industry deception, and fracking. This advertising experiment found no effects of the ads on the views of any other demographic groups.

Using data on extreme weather to locally target messaging in areas experiencing it can dramatically increase impact. Through a pilot with Climate Central, the Innovation Team at the Partnership Project acquired a data set from NOAA of geographies impacted by extreme weather. They partnered with the National Wildlife Federation to examine the performance of two emails sent in July on extreme heat. They found people in the zip codes experiencing extreme heat for at least two consecutive days responded at a higher rate, doubling conversions. This confirms polling suggesting that local extreme weather influences opinions. Additional weather data sets from the NOAA are available by county, zip code, and Congressional district. This data is available for use to inform your online and offline targeting and match the right local extreme weather message/creative to the people impacted by that particular type of extreme weather. You can also watch a debrief video.

We test as one way to learn the answers to these and many more questions. We test because our assumptions and gut feelings are frequently wrong. “Testing” is the process of carefully trying out variations in what you do and measuring the results so you can learn what works. This webinar provides a step by step guide to the basics of testing and prepares you to conduct simple tests (such as on email or Facebook) and to be an informed partner if working with a research expert on more ambitious projects.

Opinion data reveals signs of increased climate concern across the U.S. We may very well be nearing the tipping point in public opinion so essential for action. So what type of climate messages do we need now? We at Potential Energy have been rigorously testing different message frames and have learned a lot about what to say (and what not to say) at this critical juncture in the climate change movement. So we share with you clear, concise, actionable takeaways about what words to use (and what words to definitely avoid) so that we can drive up support during this once-in-a-lifetime moment for action.