CHAPTER II 

 THEORY AMD METHODS 



Survey Design 



The survey instrument used in this study asked a wide range of 

 questions regarding hunting practices, views on waterfowl 

 management issues and valuation of hunting experiences. The 

 questions were presented in five sections (see Appendix A) . 

 These sections address the following topics: 



I. Questions regarding the respondents waterfowl 

 hunting history and their feelings toward the 

 sport, 



II. Questions about the hunters first and last 

 waterfowl hunting trips of the 1989 season, their 

 success and characteristics of the trips and the 

 areas where they hunted, 



III. Economic questions about a specific trip (either 

 their first or last of the year) including 

 expenses, travel time and contingent valuation 

 questions, 



IV. Questions designed to elicit opinions on different 

 waterfowl hunting management options. 



V. Socioeconomic questions about the respondent, 

 including age, sex, income, education, etc. 



Data gathered from all survey sections are presented in Chapter 

 III, Descriptive Statistics, and the data collected by the 

 contingent valuation questions of Section III is analyzed and 

 presented in Chapter IV, Contingent Valuation Estimates of 

 Consumer Surplus. 



There were four versions of the survey sent to hunters. One half 

 of the sample was sent surveys which addressed in parts of 

 Sections II and III, their "first" hunting trip of the year. The 

 other half of the sample was sent questionnaires which instead 

 asked about their "last" hunting trip of the year. This 

 splitting of the sample addressed a basic concern in the sampling 

 procedure: that asking all respondents about their most current 

 trip would bias the results if significant differences existed 

 between early and late season trips. These two general versions 

 of the questionnaire were also each divided into two unique 

 versions of the survey. The surveys varied in the wording of 

 Question 6 in Section III. One version asked respondents to 



