Representatives from Natural England and the National Trust were contacted for personal communications and they agreed to be part of a discussion to gain information for the purpose of this research. Questions were asked surrounding the key ecological management methods currently used on selected sites, managing and monitoring activities allowed on site, and threats to the reserve. Other questions were based upon current nature conservation legislation enforcing the most appropriate management technique, and what changes each representative would like to see on the reserve as well as changes to nature conservation legislation. Questions were also asked based on what the aim and intended outcomes were for joining existing reserves to create the Purbeck Heath NNR. 

Bayesian Belief Networks place a quantitative or semi-quantitative value on varying nodes. Nodes can represent varied factors such as biodiversity, conservation practices, or recreational activities. The quantitative value of each node can be in two fixed states: increasing or decreasing. The probability ranges between 0 and 1 where 1 represents the probability being ‘high’ or ‘increasing’. Edges connect the nodes to show interactions between different nodes reflecting the degrees of certainty of the interaction occurring, again between 0 and 1. Secondary data in the form of quantitative and qualitative data such as expert opinion is used to determine the value of each edge.