AUTHORS: Cynthia Longmire, DJ Case & Associates Hiro Hayashi, DJ Case & Associates Eric Edwards, Missouri Department of Conservation
ABSTRACT: Across the country, agencies and their partners have implemented countless R3 programs, workshops, trainings, and other efforts. At the core, these efforts are concerned with motivating program participants to start or increase participation in outdoor activities. People are often motivated by external factors, yet just as often, they are motivated from within. This interaction between external forces and intrinsic motives drives behavior. Self-Determination Theory is a well-known theory of human motivation based on the idea that people have three basic psychological needs that drive their behavior. 1) The need to feel they have a choice in the decision to do an activity (autonomy); 2) the need to feel they have the skills to do the activity and be effective at it (competence); and 3) the need to feel a sense of belonging (relatedness). The better these needs are met, the more likely an individual will participate in the activity.
In 2022, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) fielded nearly 300 R3 programs. With this project, MDC, working with DJ Case & Associates, evaluated these programs to understand better how well they recruit, retain, or reactive hunters, anglers, and shooting sports participants. R3 program participants were cross-referenced with permit sales data to determine how these programs helped achieve the Department’s R3 goals. Permit sales are a critical metric but fail to account for the important role that programs can play in helping individuals along their journey to becoming hunters, anglers, or sport shooters. In addition to evaluating traditional R3 outcomes, the project uses R3 program participant interviews to explore the programs’ impact on participants' perceived competence, relatedness, and autonomy.
