The Effects of a Visual Aid on Controlling Public Behavior on Pharmaceutical Pollution

Water pollution has been a growing problem for decades. As human societies develops to sustain a greater population, limited thought is being put into the impact on the environment. Due to this, many common pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, are being found in growing numbers in the aquatic environment. The most common ways that pharmaceuticals are disposed of includes placing them in the trash, pouring them down the sink, and/or flushing them down the toilet. Although easy and quick, these methods are unsafe and can have devastating impacts on the aquatic ecosystem. The purpose of this experiment was to test whether educating the public about this issue would change their minds about their disposal methods. It was hypothesized that after reading the brochure provided, individuals would change the way they disposed of pharmaceuticals. This is because the brochure would explain the vast environmental impact that incorrect disposal of pharmaceuticals can have on the aquatic ecosystem. The experiment was conducted by sending out a pre-survey to 40 households, and then splitting the sample size into two groups and giving one a brochure and one no brochure. A post-survey was then sent out to determine whether the brochure had impacted the audience. T-tests were run to compare the no brochure (control) and the brochure (experimental) groups. The p-value of the brochure group was less than the alpha value of 0.05, and the p-value of the no brochure group was greater than the alpha value of 0.05, thus the alternative hypothesis could be supported, which meant that the brochure had a visual impact on the subjects. With the influence of reading a brochure about this issue, up to 95% of the individuals that participated in this survey had a different outlook on pharmaceutical disposal techniques