An evaluation of Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) program effectiveness

Abstract

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) offers over 25 different outdoor recreational and outreach educational programs that target different audiences and utilize different types of delivery systems. This study was an evaluation of an educational program called Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW). The evaluation produced a measurement instrument that evaluated program effectiveness and tested the instrument on past participants. The questionnaire determined respondents’: (1) history of program participation, (2) knowledge of TPWD’s mission and purpose, (3) level of involvement in selected outdoor recreational activities before and after program participation, (4) knowledge of basic outdoor recreational regulations and behaviors, (5) level of compliance with a variety of outdoor recreational behaviors, (6) attitudinal position on opposing statements on outdoor recreational ethics or behaviors, and (7) demographic characteristics. The two groups surveyed were all participants of BOW between 1993 and 1998 (n = 1,240) and the control group (n = 61) made of women who had signed up for the program but had not yet attended. Sampling error for the participants was high, but met the statistically acceptable range of repeatable results at +/- 3%. The only demographic difference (P ≤ 0.05) between groups was age, i.e., BOW participants were older (χ2 = 46.3) than the control group (χ2 = 40.8). Chi-square tests showed differences in awareness of the missions and goals of TPWD. GLM tests detected no differences (P ≤ 0.05) between the participants and the control group in general outdoor knowledge, behavior given various outdoor recreational scenarios and ethical positions on dichotomous statements. However, there were differences between groups on some items within each of those categories. On those items the r2 value (≤ 0.02) showed that the difference found between groups had little to do with program participation. Respondents’ comments focused on the BOW program, the questionnaire, and TPWD. Study findings are discussed in the context of the program evaluation process. Several recommendations for future program evaluations and concluding remarks are included in this thesis.