Qualitative methods to understand nature-related behaviours: A report commissioned by the Scottish Government

Summary: We urgently need to safeguard nature and the many benefits it provides to society.  Individuals and groups can influence nature in many diverse ways, both positively and negatively, so we need to enable and foster those behaviours that support resilient nature. However, the reasons why nature-related behaviours are – or are not – carried out is not always well understood at present. Understanding better what shapes the myriad of nature-related behaviours is thus an important challenge for social science.  Social science data collection methods can be broadly divided into ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ methods. Quantitative’ methods produce numerical or categorical data, such as large-scale surveys. They are useful to track nature-related behaviours, especially for large samples of the population, but usually give little insight into why those behaviours arise.  Qualitative methods are complementary. Generating a variety of different types of non-numerical data (e.g. text, pictures), these methods typically offer more insight into detail, meaning-making, and explanation of drivers for and experiences of nature-related behaviours. This report describes 10 qualitative social science methods and describes how they can be used to elicit insights about nature-related behaviours.  This list is not the totality of all methods associated with qualitative approaches, but represents many common approaches, although not arts-based approaches.