CHAPTER II 



Survey Design 



The upland game bird survey was designed to gather a wide variety of information from the 

 hunters. This information included hunting practices, views on upland game bird management, 

 valuation of hunting experiences, and socio-demographic information. The questionnaire (See 

 Appendix A) was arranged into five sections dealing with the following topics: 



I. General questions regarding respondents upland game bird hunting. 



II. Questions regarding the hunters first and last upland game bird hunting trips for 

 1990 season. Hunter and trip characteristics as well as hunter values. 



III. Economic questions about "first" or "last" hunting trip of the year for upland 

 birds. Travel time and distance travelled, expenditure information and contingent 

 valuation questions. 



IV. Question on upland game bird management. 



V. Socio-demographic questions regarding respondents age, sex, education, income, 

 etc. 



Two versions of the questionnaire were mailed to upland game bird hunters. Half the sample 

 received surveys that had questions in sections III and IV that asked about their "first" hunt of 

 the season while the other half of the sample were asked questions about the "last" hunt of the 

 season. By dividing the sample in two in this manner the chances of biasing the results, if only 

 the most recent trip information was collected, was minimized. 



Sample Respondents and Survey Administration 



The sample population selected to receive the questionnaire were people who had bought a 1989 

 upland game bird license and said they had hunted upland birds in 1989 on the big game harvest 

 survey. The Total Design Method, Dillman (1978), was used for mailing out this survey. A 

 cover letter, survey and stamped return envelope were mailed to upland bird hunters. One week 

 later, a reminder postcard was mailed to everyone either thanking them for their input or asking 

 them to complete and return the survey. Two weeks after the initial mailing a second cover 

 letter and survey were mailed to those hunters who had not returned their questionnaire. 



