Promoting responsible camping: research summary

Methodology

The research comprised three phases:

Phase 1: Scoping

• A short literature review of 24 publicly available articles on irresponsible outdoor behaviour including, but not exclusively when, camping;
• Stakeholder interviews with 14 representatives of national bodies as well as local rangers, access officers and land managers to gather their perspectives;
• These stakeholders were recruited from areas of Scotland where irresponsible camping behaviour is known to be a problem, so they are likely to have experienced more instances of these behaviours than those in other areas of Scotland;
• Their experiences therefore help illustrate the types of irresponsible behaviour that are sometimes associated with wild camping and not necessarily its prevalence in Scotland.

Phase 2: Primary research with target audiences

• Depth interviews with 20 participants who had wild camped in Scotland in the previous two years and demonstrated at least one of an agreed list of irresponsible behaviours;
• These participants were purposively selected to help understand irresponsible wild camping behaviour better. The prevalence of certain behaviours among this group is not therefore representative of all wild campers.

Phase 3: Behaviour change workshop

• A virtual workshop with the NatureScot, the Scottish Government and BritainThinks teams, alongside a few other representatives from communications teams in this space. Structured as follows:
  • A debrief of the findings from Phase 2 of the research;
  • A facilitated workshop, using the opportunities and barriers uncovered from the previous phases to map potential behaviour change communications and interventions against the Individual, Social and Material (ISM) behavioural framework.