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Research Process

Define Problem, Research Objectives

HOW?

Overall Method

SurveyExperiment

Case Study

Secondary Data

What?

ConceptsVariables

Measures

Who?

Population

Sampling

Data Gathering

Analysis

Application

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1. Define study objectives

2. Identify information needs & study population(s)

3. Determine basic design/approachExercise B1 assume

- a self-administered survey- could be mailed or on-site survey

4. Questionnaire design

5. Choose sample (frame, size, sampling design)6. Estimate time, costs, manpower needs, etc.

STEPS IN A SURVEY

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Questionnaire Design

1. Preliminary InfoInformation needed

Who are subjects

Method of communication

2. Question Content

3. Question Wording

4. Response Format

5. Question Sequencing/Layout

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What Information?

Demographic, Socioeconomic, Physical

e.g. income, age, weight, hometown,

Cognitive - Knowledge & beliefs

e.g. Aware of a park or program, believe in globalwarming

Affective - attitudes, feelings, preferences

Like or dislike park, satisfied, prefer this or that

Behaviors

Ski in last year, repeat visitor, stay overnight in

area?

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1. Is this question necessary? useful?

2. Are several questions needed on this subject? Avoid doublebarreled questions.

3. Do respondents have information to answer the question? Use

filter questions to screen.

4. Does question need to be more concrete, specific and related tosubject's personal experience? Is a time referent provided?

5. Is question sufficiently general? Do you want recent behavior

or "typical behavior"?

6. Do replies express general attitudes or specific ones?

7. Is content loaded or biased8. Are subjects willing to answer?

9. Can responses be compared with existing information?

Question Content

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Wording

1. Will words be uniformly understood? Simple language.Avoid technical phrases, jargon and abbreviations.

2. Does question adequately express the alternatives?

3. Is the question misleading due to unstated assumption

or unseen implications.4. Is wording biased, emotional, or slanted?

5. Will wording be objectionable to respondents?

6. Should you use more or less personalized wording?

7. Ask in a more direct or more indirect way?

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1. Open or closed-ended

2. If closed,

ordered or unordered;

number of categories,

type of cue,

forced or unforced choice

3. Response categoriesmutually exclusive

exhaustive.

Form of Response

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Sequencing & layout

1. Will this question influence responses to

others?

2. Is question led up to in a natural way?3. Placement to create interest, improve

response rate.

4. Branching, skipping, and transitions on

questionnaires.

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1. Simple fill in the blank. Obtaining a straightforward

number or other easily understood response.

How old are you? ___________

(years).

In what county is your permanent residence?

_______________

( county)

How much money did you spend on this trip?

$ ________________

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2. Open ended: To avoid leading subject, to obtain wide rangeof responses in subjects own words, or when you dont know

kinds of responses to expect.

What is your primary reason for visiting the park today?

_______________________________________.

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3. Partially closed ended. List major response categories

while leaving room for others.

Which of the following community recreation facilities do you

most frequently use? (check one).

neighborhood parks/playgrounds

swimming pools

community centers

natural areas

tennis courts other (please specify) ___________________

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4. Checklists: Allow subjects to check multiple

responses. Categories exhaustive & mutually exclusive

Which of the following winter recreation activities have

you participated in during the past month? (check all

that apply)

Cross-country skiing

Downhill skiing

Snowmobiling

Ice Skating

Sledding or Tobogganing

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5. Likert Scales: Versatile format for measuring attitudes.

Please check the box that best represents your level of agreementor disagreement with each of the following statements about

downhill skiing:

Strongly Strongly

Agree Agree Neutral Disagree DisagreeDownhill skiing is...

exciting

dangerous

expensive

Can replace agree with importance satisfaction, interest preference

and other descriptors to fit the attitude you wish to measure.

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6. Rank Ordering: To measure preferences or priorities.

Limit to short lists.

Rank the following states in terms of your interest as

possible travel destinations for a summer vacation trip.

(Place a 1 beside the state you would most like to visit, place a 2 besides yoursecond choice, and a 3 beside your third choice.)

______ Michigan

______ Wisconsin

______ Minnesota

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7. Filter Question. To screen for eligibility or

knowledge prior to asking other questions.

Did you stay overnight on your most recent trip?

NO YES

If Yes, How many nights did you spend

away from home? ________

To next question

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exciting ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ dull

expensive ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ inexpensive

safe ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ dangerous

8. Semantic Differential scale. Measure perception or image of

something using a set of polar adjectives.

For each of the characteristics listed below, mark an X on the line

where you feel downhill skiing falls with respect to that

characteristic.

(Could repeat with cross country ski and snowmobiling

and compare perceptions; or Coke and Pepsi.

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Suggested Surveys

Visitors to a park or facility

Resident population

Group of managers or administrators

Population of tourists

Program participants other

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Population - Who

MSU students

Impression 5 Museum Visitors

MRPA members, Recreation faculty in US

International students at MSU

Visitors to Mackinac Island Tae-Bo class, MSU football players,

Food stamp recipients in Lansing area

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Objectives

Describe the population

Demographics, knowledge, attitudes, behavior

Test for differences between subgroups

Are men different than women in sports participation?(gender related to partic.)

Test for relationships between variables

Does boat ownership vary with income?

Evaluate a program (specify criteria as part of objective) How satisfied are customers? What do they like or

dislike about program?

Estimate benefits (costs, impacts) of a program