Recall of the Promoted Messages

The indicator measures the proportion of the target population that recall hearing or seeing a minimum number of the messages promoted by the project’s behaviour change communication (BCC) activities. It helps us to understand how large a proportion of the target audience our communication activities reached. The data required for this indicator must be collected no longer than several weeks after your BCC campaign is over.

Determine the indicator’s value by using the following methodology:

1) Write a list of the main messages that were communicated by your behaviour change communication activities. Select those messages that are specific to your project activities (i.e. those that are unlikely to have been seen, heard or read from sources other than your project activities). The number of selected messages must be the same as the number you stated in your indicator (for example, 3 out of 7 messages).

2) Conduct individual interviews with a representative sample of the target group members assessing whether they recall hearing or reading the promoted messages and from which source they heard / read them:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Introduction: In the following questions I will be asking whether you heard or saw certain messages. When I asked these questions to other people living in this area, they told me when they recalled the message but they also told me openly whether they never heard or saw such messages. I would like to ask you to respond to the following question as honestly as the other respondents did. There are no right or wrong answers, we just want to understand your true experience.

Q1: In the past [specify the time frame], have you heard from someone or have you seen somewhere that [specify the message]?

A1: yes / no / does not remember

(ask the following question only if the previous answer is “yes”)

Q2: Where did you see or hear the message or information about [specify the message]? Probe: Did you hear or see it anywhere else?

A2: Pre-define the answers based on the communication channels your activities used (such as from an extension worker, radio, billboard, etc.). Include also additional sources, such as the respondent’s friends and relatives, and option “does not remember”.

3) Replicate the same questions for the other selected messages.

4) Count the number of messages the respondent has seen or heard from one or more sources your BCC activities used (do not count any other sources; do not count the respondents who claimed that they heard / saw the message but did not remember where).

5) Count the number of respondents who read or heard the minimum pre-defined number of messages (e.g. 3 out of 7) from any of the sources your BCC activities used (do not count people that claim to have heard or seen the message from a source that your campaign did not use). 

6) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents who saw or heard the minimum number of messages from any of the sources your BCC activities used, by the total number of respondents. Multiply the result by 100.

1) Do not collect the data as a standard part of your project’s endline survey – it is likely to be too late. The data must be collected at the latest 2-3 weeks after your BCC activities are implemented – otherwise it is very likely that people will not remember them. The data collection needs to be planned at the same time when you plan the implementation of the various BCC activities. Remember: the indicator does not measure the proportion of people who increased their knowledge or changed behaviour as a result of the communication activities - it only measures the proportion of people who were reached by the activities. 

2) An alternative way of measuring the indicator would be to ask the respondent about the communication channels the BCC activities used. For example, “In the past month, have you heard on the radio that [specify the message]?” However, while this method might help people to recall their experience, it is also highly prone to social desirability bias – the respondent might respond “yes” because s/he feels that this will please the interviewer (or make her/him look better), rather than providing the true response.

3) If you promote only one key message, change the indicator to “% of [specify the target group] who recall hearing or seeing the promoted message”.