MarketingResearchBubolzFinalReport

Marketing Research Project
Mike Nelson, Aubrie Brochtrup, Marshall Zielinski
5/15/2014

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................2
Background....................................................................................................3
Objectives......................................................................................................3
Methodology..................................................................................................4
Data Collection...............................................................................................4
Limitations.....................................................................................................4
Copy of Survey ...............................................................................................5
Questions with Data Charts.............................................................................7
Conclusion ................................................................................................ ...23
Recommendation...................................................................................... ...23

Executive Summary
This is based upon forty-one responses.
Based on the survey results, 29 of the teachers have been to Bubolz Nature Preserve,
whereas, 12 of them haven’t.
· Sixty-one percent of the teachers don’t have funding at their school to go on
environmental field trips.
· Ninety percent of the teachers preferred to take field trips in the spring and 63% did
also prefer to go during the fall.
· Over 56% of the teachers expressed that they utilize other preserves in the area.
· Environmental education is an important tool for student learning in 91% of the
classrooms.
· Earth materials and structures of life are popular programs amongst the teachers.
· The survey collections were from the Appleton, Little Chute, and Kimberly school
district.
o Appleton: 45.71%
o Little Chute: 5.71%
o Kimberly: 48.57%
· Majority of the teachers responded taught in the 2nd grade.
o 1st Grade: 1
o 2nd Grade: 14
o 3rd Grade: 9
o 4th Grade: 6
o 5th Grade: 4

Background
Our Marketing Research instructor Jason Voelker approached Randy Tuma of Bubolz Nature
Preserve to ask if students could perform market research for the preserve. Our group
consisted of Aubrie Brochtrup, Mike Nelson, and Marshall Zielinski. We interviewed with Randy
Tuma, executive director of Bubolz, to inquire information on the preserve. As a group, we
learned valuable information about their problem areas to market research.
Bubloz Nature Preserve is designed to educate and provide recreational activities in nature.
Their goals are to provide people with a sound environmental ethic and appreciation of nature.
The preserve has been since 1979, and continues to grow. It also is a nonprofit organization,
and seeks to expand the preserve in advanced ways throughout the next couple of years.
Objectives
The information we gathered from Randy helped us decide what our research objectives were
going to be. The following research objectives are:
1.) Understand the school’s curriculum as it relates to the preserve’s programs.
2.) Understand possible new programs the preserve can offer to enhance student learning.
3.) Understand the fall lag for 2-5th
grade

Methodology
The objectives were decided upon as a group after the interview with Randy, and then we
developed survey questions. The survey questions were approved by Randy, and then
delivered to teachers using SurveyMonkey. Survey Monkey is an online survey tool for
marketing research. The survey was put on the website for area school districts probing for
responses on their curriculum. This method was chosen for convenience of the teachers, and
to compare data.
Data Collection
Our group conducted quantitative research and qualitative research on Survey Monkey. We
performed quantitative research by developing a survey for area districts correlating with our
objectives. Qualitative research was completed by examining and collecting data from the
survey results. We analyzed the results to understand the objectives and market research
conducted.
We opened the survey on April 8th
and closed the survey on April 24th
. We received a total of
forty-one responses from Appleton, Kimberly, and Little Chute School Districts.
Limitations
The main limitation of the survey was not being able to get in contact with all the area districts.
It would have altered the results if all the districts in the Fox Valley participated. A larger data
collection could have given us more market research results. Our group did not have a set
number of survey responses we wanted to gather; therefore it could lead to a misinterpretation
of curriculums and fall lag. The time crunch also played a role in limitations to the survey. If our
group had more time the results might be different. Another limitation is the survey results not
providing what courses are studied at each time of year.

Survey Template
1.) Has your school ever been to Bubolz Nature Preserve?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
2.) Is there funding for environment field trips in your classroom’s budget?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
3.) Please check when your school prefers to take field trips:
Fall [ ] Winter [ ] Spring [ ] Summer [ ]
4.) Do you utilize other preserves in the area?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
5.) Is environmental education an important tool for student learning in your classroom?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
6.) Are you familiar with the programs Bubolz Nature Preserves has to offer?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
7.) Does your school participate in any of the programs listed?
Earth Materials [ ]
Structures of Life [ ]
Skins, Bones, and Unknowns [ ]
GPS/ Geocaching [ ]
Critter Catching [ ]
Survival Skills [ ]
Winter Ecology [ ]
None of the Above [ ]
8.) What topic would best enhance your classroom curriculum or be of interest to you and
your students? Please, list however many you would like:
(Text Responses)
9.) What district is your school in? This should be answered through the return address
unless you plan to make this document writable and email it out. That would be best if
possible.
Appleton [ ]
ACES/Xavier [ ]
Little Chute [ ]
Kaukauna [ ]
Kimberly [ ]
10.) What grade level do you teach?
(Text Responses)
[CONTINUE ON NEXT PAGE]

11.) which is the best communication channel to receive field trip information? (Optional)
Website [ ]
Social Media [ ]
Word of Mouth [ ]
12.) May we email you information regarding our environmental programming? (Optional)
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
13.) Name: (Optional)
(Text Responses)
14.) Phone: (Optional)
(Text Responses)
15.) Email: (Optional)
(Text Responses)

Online Survey Results with Data Charts

Comments:
1 Fieldtripsare determinedbygrade levelteachersandmustmatchup to curriculumtargets
2 We receive QuarryQuestfundstoattend.
3 I wrote a Quarry QuestGrant to get moneyforthisyear.I know that I cannotapplyfor the grant on
a yearlybasis.Thisyearit workedoutandwas approved!Yeah!
4 Yes,if we applyfor outside grants
5 Our school ispart of the FallenTimbersconsortiumandisonlyable togo there forfieldtrips.

1 Earth's Resources
2 Unsure
3 Tree plantingforArborDay
4 We usedtogo to Earth Materials,butitwasn't verykid-friendly.
5 Notsure- I thinksurvival skillswouldbe awesome for4thgraders!
6 We chose notto return to Bubolzthisyear because the programmingwasidentical towhatthe
studentsreceivedinthe previousgrade.
7 Water
8 I'm not sure if youare askingfor those specificprogramsor not.We doa varietyof environmental,
animals,weather,etc.activities atFallenTimbers.

1 Workingsof the Human Body
2 Soil science
3 Earth materials,Conservation
4 Plants
5 Rock and minerals
6 I justswitchedgrade levelssothe curriculumhaschanged.Itwouldbe helpful toutilize programs
that involve rocks/minerals(earthmaterials),andconservation.
7 Rocks androck formation
8 Pebblessandandsilt
9 Conservationof resources
10 How we use and conserve earth'sresources&protectingthe environment
11 Natural Resources,Space
12 Natural resourcesRocks
13 Snowshoeing
14 Water
15 Natural Resources
16 Winterecology
17 Animalsandthe ecosystem
18 Insects
19 Notsure
20 None
21 Animalsadaption
22 Survival Skillssoundscool anda unitonWisconsinlandmarksif anyat Bubolz
23 Plantlife
25 Weather,Insects,Matter
26 life cyclesof plantsandanimals
27 Life Structures,Life cycles
28 The programs youofferare great.
29 We come duringmaple syruptime andthat fitswell withourcurriculum.
30 Structuresof Life/Earth Materialsfor3rd grade that were notalreadytaughtto 2nd grade.
31 None at thistime.
32 Plants
33 Weather/Earthscience
34 We currentlyworkwithFTto set uptopics/activities.
35 .

Grade level # of teachers
1st
1
2nd
14
3rd
9
4TH
6
5TH
4

1 E-mail;pamphletsforthe office topost
2 brochuresmailedtothe school
3 I prefermostemailsfromyourPreserve.
4 email todistrictto disseminate toappropriate grade levels
5 Since thisreallyisn'tanoptionat thistime, Iam not interestedininformation.

1 Barbara Pawelkiewicz
2 BritenFrost
3 Lisa Wenninger
4 AaronSkurr
5 Kayla
6 Stephanie Voight
7 Christi Slowey
8 AvaMarks
9 Gina Kluge
10 JohnMiller
11 Jackie Herrmann
12 Joelene Raleigh

1 920-915-4985
2 920-730-0924

1 bpawelkiewicz@kimberly.k12.wi.us
2 bfrost@kimberly.k12.wi.us
3 lwenninger@kimberly.k12.wi.us
4 askurr@kimberly.k12.wi.us
5 khendricks@kimberly.k12.wi.us
6 svoight@kimberly.k12.wi.us
7 jlaurent@kimberly.k12.wi.us
8 Jkispert@kimberly.k12.wi.us
9 cslowey@kimberly.k12.wi.us
10 marksava@aasd.k12.wi.us
11 klugegina@aasd.k12.wi.us
12 hugginskay@aasd.k12.wi.us
13 millerjohn@aasd.k12.wi.us
14 herrmannjacque@aasd.k12.wi.us
15 raleighjoelene@aasd.k12.wi.us

Conclusion
Our group’s plan was to understand area school’s curriculum and Bubolz Nature Preserve’s fall
lag. Our main goal was to determine the correlation of curriculum within schools and Bubolz
Nature Preserve. Market research was conducted on Survey Monkey between April 8th
and
April 24th
. The area district curriculum directors e-mailed the survey to the teachers of 2-5th
grade. The districts that participated were Appleton, Little Chute and Kimberly. We had a total
of 41 responses, and 22 were completely finished.
As a group we concluded that 60.98% do not have funding for Environmental field trips, and
39.02% do have funding. In addition, 70.73% of schools have been to Bubolz Nature Preserve
made up of forty-one responses. According to the research, 90.24% of schools go on field trips
during the spring, and 63.41% go during the fall. Second grade teachers were the most active
with fourteen responses to the survey. The most dominant Environmental courses are Earth
Materials with 37.14% followed by Structures of Life with 28.57%.
Recommendations
*Funding
Our research from the survey found 60.98% of schools do not have funding for Environmental
field trips throughout the year. We had a total of forty-one responses, and received additional
comments. Some of the schools access funding for field trips through grants. The main grant
schools apply for is the Quarry Quest Fund. Also, the funding is also based upon grade level,
and it must match their curriculum. The research also presented 39.02% of schools do have
funding for Environmental field trips. The research shows 81.2% have been to Bubloz Nature
Preserve of the schools that do have funding. Our recommendation is to research other grants
available for schools. Year basis grants, and availability*
Time of Year
In our research, we concluded that the main seasons of attendance from the all the school
districts polled prefer taking field trips in spring and fall, spring being the main season. 90.24%
of the respondents checked that they prefer to take field trips in the spring season, 63.41%
prefer the fall season. There is also still a small margin for winter at 14.63% and summer at
2.44%.
Of all the respondents, 31.71% (13 of the 41) have been to Bubolz do not use other preserves
in the area. The majority of the respondents were from the Appleton and Kimberly, and 53.85%
(7 of the 13) prefer to take field trips in fall and spring. Our recommendation is to do further
research on what the curriculum is during the fall specifically, and correlate programs to match.

Programs
According to survey results, Earth Materials (37.14%) and Structures of Life (28.57%) were the
most popular programs that the schools selected. We received a comment about the Earth
Materials being not kid-Friendly, so our recommendation is to do some more research and find
out why it is coming across that way.
This is another comment that drew our attention:
“We chose not to return to Bubolz this year because the programming was identical to what the
student’s received in the previous grade.”
Even though it is one respondent that expressed this comment, it may be helpful to note and
review your programs to create an evolving program based on the level of learning of the group.
This will help increase learning and keep schools coming back to your preserve.
A program that can complement your program is conservation. The program could explain how
to conserve the earth’s resources and how to protect the environment.
*Resources
In review the survey results, 90% of the teachers preferred to access the Bubolz’s website to
find information about field trips. Social media and word of mouth are good avenues to inform
about field trips; however, the website is the best channel to display information about the
programs and the opportunities for the schools. The teachers will most likely google Bubolz
Nature Preserve before they call/email or look it up on a social media platform.
Britten Frost and an unknown teacher recommended small posters and/or brochures to be sent
to better inform and refer to when deciding field trips. Due to the financial position of the
preserve, we recommend creating an email campaign or a virtual hub where teachers can
access to learn more about the field trip opportunities. Marketing materials, such as brochures
and posters, can be sent out upon request of a teacher. Timing of when sending circulations
and time of year.

MarketingResearchBubolzFinalReport

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