An evaluation of Missouri Master Naturalist Program : changes in volunteer knowledge and the relationship between motivations and changes in volunteer knowledge

The Missouri Master Naturalist (MN) program, jointly run by the Missouri Department of Conservation, University of Missouri Extension, and University of Missouri School of Natural Resources, empowers adults to become certified volunteers in conducting education, outreach, and service dedicated to the management of their community’s natural resources. Although several states have developed Master Naturalist Programs, the relationship between changes in knowledge after training and motivations to participate in MN training programs is not well known. My research evaluated several aspects of the Missouri MN training program. My first objective was to determine whether there was an improvement in volunteers’ knowledge of ecological processes and conservation issues in Missouri after completing the training. The second objective was to identify volunteer’s motivations for participating in the MN program, and finally to determine if a relationship existed between volunteer’s motivations and any improvement in knowledge. Analysis of the Knowledge Survey results demonstrated a significant improvement in volunteers’ knowledge of ecological processes and conservation issues in Missouri after completing the Missouri MN training program (F(2,76) = 50.678, p < 0.001). Post-hoc analysis revealed this significant increase was due to improvement in scores from the pre-training survey to the post-training survey (t(77) = -10.356, p<.000). Although no significant increase in scores occurred from post-training to the six-month follow-up survey (t(38) = -.057, p > .955), the post-hoc analysis demonstrated volunteers maintained their level of knowledge six months after training. Analysis of volunteers’ motivations for participating in the MN program indicated that for most volunteers,