Under Construction @ Keele 2016 Volume 2 Issue 2 | Page 22
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Brief Outline of Methodology
One hundred and ninety-one participants (55.5% females) were recruited for a questionnaire
based study. The mean age of those taking part was 19.72 years, reflecting the fact that
participants were all undergraduate students attending a UK based university. Participants
were recruited through classes and through a course credit scheme. Standard ethical
procedures were followed. The study investigated participant’s willingness to buy recycled
products and whether they viewed recycling as ‘morally correct’. Participants were asked to
complete a questionnaire which contained three sections: Section one asked about their
values, section two asked about their moral norms towards recycling, and section three
asked about their willingness to buy recycled products.
Section 1: Values
Sixteen items14 measured the extent to which participants regarded STV and SEV as
important. For STV, four items measured altruistic concerns: equality, a world at peace,
social justice and helpfulness; and four items measured biospheric concerns: respecting the
earth, unity with nature, protecting the environment and preventing pollution. For SEV, three
items measured hedonic concerns: pleasure, enjoying life and gratification for oneself; and
five items measured egoistic concerns: social power, authority, wealth, ambition and being
influential. This section required participants to rate the importance of each item as a
‘guiding principle in their life’ on a 9-point scale ranging from -1 (opposed to my values) to 7
(extremely important).
Section 2: Moral Norm to Recycle
Participants’ moral norms were measured using a published scale that consisted of four
items.15 The four items were ‘I feel I should not waste anything if it could be used again’, ‘I
would feel guilty if I did not recycle’, ‘it would be wrong of me not to recycle’, and ‘not
recycling goes against my principles’. Participants rated how much they agreed with the
items on a 7-point Likert scale, running from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Higher
scores indicated a stronger moral norm towards recycling.
14
Linda Steg et al. "The significance of hedonic values for environmentally relevant attitudes,
preferences, and actions," Environment and Behaviour 46 (2012).
15
Michele Tonglet, Paul S. Phillips, and Adam D. Read. "Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour to
investigate the determinants of recycling behaviour: a case study from Brixworth, UK," 214.