CONSUMER PREFERENCES IN PURCHASE OF MEAT 5 
finished in Washington, which were the first cities in which the study 
was conducted. Certain of the questions asked in these cities were 
eliminated from the final form and other questions which were not in 
the first form were added to the final form of the questionnaire. 
THE CONSUMER QUESTIONNAIRE 
The questions forming the questionnaire were developed after 
tests of several questionnaires in six cities. In its final form the 
questionnaire included those questions for which it was believed satis- 
factory and reliable answers could be obtained. The questions were 
so framed as to include not only those relating to actual practices in 
the purchase and consumption but also others indicating housewives' 
opinions and viewpoints in the purchasing and consumption of meat. 
For the purposes of the survey, fish and poultry were not regarded 
as meat and were classed as other foods. Particular emphasis was 
placed on fresh meat as distinguished from smoked and cured meats. 
The nature and extent of the information gathered through the 
questionnaire will be more readily grasped by a statement of its 
general content. A summary 3 of the questions follows: 
Value of meat consumed weekly by families or households. 
Number of family members. 
Age and sex of family members. 
Number of servants in the household. 
Family and other household members eating and not eating meat. 
Reasons why adults do not eat meat. 
Kind of meat preferred. 
Reasons for buying steaks, chops, roasts, and boiling meat. 
Number of times per week meat was served at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 
Reasons for serving meat in preference to other foods. 
Foods served in place of meat and reasons for their use. 
Relative importance of various foods in the household. 
Housewife's opinion as to whether the family eats too much meat, just 
enough, or not enough, and reasons for stating too much or too little meat. 
Type of market patronized, reasons for buying at a particular market and 
for changing markets. 
Familiarity of housewives with local advertising. 
Purchasing habits of housewives. 
Housewives' knowledge of various cuts of meat. 
It is apparent in collecting information concerning consumer pref- 
erences and opinions by several observers that arbitrary and rigid 
restrictions must be placed on the meaning of the question, in order that 
all interviewers may place the same interpretation on each question. 
These definitions and limitations will be indicated whenever necessary 
in the discussion of each of the various questions. 
COLLECTION OF INFORMATION 
The nature of the questions to be asked at the personal interviews 
required the use of trained interviewers, who would be able to rephrase 
or to explain a question sufficiently to get satisfactory replies with- 
out actually suggesting the answer. These interviewers were accord- 
ingly instructed and their work directed so that the results obtained 
by the various workers might be properly compared and combined. 
3 A list of the questions for which results are presented in this publication is given in the questionnaire, 
pages 37 and 38. Some variation will be noted between the wording of certain of the questions and that 
used in the tables and in the discussion of the questions. A restatement of the questions seemed nec- 
esssary in order that the questions might clearly indicate their meanings when removed from the other 
questions with which they were associated in the questionnaire. 
