The role of information presentation for wildlife knowledge, attitude, and risk perception

Abstract Public opinion can have a decisive influence on conservation actions leading to a need to understand how public opinion is formed. In a survey with a representative sample of the German population, participants answered questions about foxes in two consecutive years. Different versions of a leaflet about foxes were distributed to 2448 participants before the second interview. We compared a narrative text presentation to a non‐narrative list of facts and examined the use of photographs and schematic graphs. We assessed how the presentation format and socio‐demographic factors affected the probability that participants read the leaflet. Using a before‐after/control‐impact design, we examined whether the leaflet affected people's fox‐related knowledge, attitude, and risk perception. The results show that participants were more likely to read the leaflet with increasing age and a higher educational level. Reading probability also increased with attitude toward foxes. Participants who read the leaflet completely gained more knowledge about foxes than those who read it only partly. Photographs also contributed to a higher knowledge gain, but schematic graphs did not. Moreover, participants who read a fact list gained more knowledge compared to the control condition. Furthermore, the combination of visual and textual features had an effect on attitude toward foxes. However, we found no evidence that any treatment affected risk perception. We discuss implications and derivations for science communication to improve conservation actions.