Review the City of Flagstaff Parks and Recreation Master Plan Citizens Survey Summary below. Look for problems with the research design. This is to sharpen your ability to evaluate the structure of a research study. Then answer the following questions:
1) What method(s) were used to distribute the survey?
2) Is this research design valid? This refers to data collection/analyses, and population(s).
 |
If yes, you are finished. |
|
If no, what are the problem(s) with the design? Be specific. |
3) What was the number of responses for the Internet survey?
4. What was the margin of error (confidence interval) for the in-person survey?
5) What were the populations (N) used for the survey? Be specific! Describe the population and the number for each or explain why you cannot.
Extra Credit: What was the the response rate for each survey? Be sure to use the correct calculation and show your work.
The formula in the
text on page 157 is incorrect! Use: Number of Completed Questionnaires Returned
(divided by) Number of Questionnaires Distributed = Response Rate
Submit this assignment to the course facilitator as an
email message.
City of Flagstaff Parks and Recreation Master Plan Citizens Survey Summary
As part
of outreach
conducted
for this plan,
an in-person
and
on-line,
survey
was
conducted.
The
purpose
of
the
survey
was to
explore
visitor
and resident's
views
about
parks
and
recreation
services,
facilities,
fees and funding.
The
in-person
survey
was
conducted
by students
from
NAU from December
3 through
5, 2010.
An identical
survey
was
released
on line
December
20,
2010
available
through
January
IS,
2010.
The in-person
survey
locations
included
two Bashas'
Supermarkets
located
on South Woodlands
Village
Boulevard
and
Humphreys
Street,
the
East
Flagstaff
and City
of Flagstaff
Main
libraries
and
around
Heritage
Square.
A total
of 461 surveys
were
received.
In-person
surveys
constituted
35%
(161)
of all
surveys
received.
If
just
in-
person
surveys
were
used,
they
would
be 95%
accurate
with
a confidence
interval
of 8%+
I_I.
Because
there
were
concerns
that
the internet survey
could
be widely
distributed
among
well-organized
interest
groups
and
consequently
over-represent
them,
the
in-person
surveys were
initially
analyzed
separately
to
obtain
a random
sample
of
residents
opinions.
Because
in most
instances,
the
in-person
surveys
differed
from
the
on-line
survey responses by
less
than
1 %,
the
responses
from
all
surveys are described
here.
In
those cases where
the
differences
are
greater
than
5 %
the
differences
between
the
in-person and
on-line
surveys
are
noted.
|
Table 4: RESPONDENT RESIDENCY |
||
|
|
|
Response |
|
Answer Options |
|
Percent |
|
Full-time resident |
. |
87.8% |
|
Part-time resident/college student |
9.9% |
|
|
Part-time resident in winter |
|
1.5% |
|
Part-time resident in summer |
i. |
0.3% |
|
Tourist |
|
0.5% |
The
vast
majority
of
survey
respondents
were City
residents
(Table
4:
Respondent Residency
.) The survey
generally
represented
the City
of Flagstaff's
population
with
regards
to income.
(Chart 1:
Survey Respondent
Income
vs.
Estimated
Cit Income.)
The
income
distribution
of survey
respondents
mirrored
City
residents
within
two percent,
with
the exception
of those
earning
more than
$75,000,
where the
difference
between
survey
respondents
and City
residents was
6 %.
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2001. Northern Arizona University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED