Two Sources of Bias in the Measurement of Human Response to the Wilderness Environment

Bibliographic Data

ID10137751
AuthorsGeorge L Peterson (corresponding author), David W Lime
Year1973
Volume5
Issue2
Pages66-73
Publication date1973-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Leisure Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-2216 • E-ISSN: 2159-6417
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00222216.1973.11970129
OpenAlexW2791486893
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited4

Effective management of wilderness resources requires the ability to measure attitudes, preferences and perceptions of wilderness visitors.This study explores two potential sources of bias in such measurements: (1) situational bias caused by differences between the situation in the wilderness and the situation at home, and (2) voluntary response bias in mail surveys caused by differences between people who return mail questionnaires and people who do not.These sources of bias are explored by means of an experimental design allowing them to be observed in terms of the details of a broad spectrum of wilderness experience.The study was conducted in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Minnesota's Superior National Forest. Results show that such biases produce differences in degree, not in kind of response. For descriptive purposes, the differences are not likely to be important but they could be misleading in comparative studies using noncommensurate samples.KEYWORDS: Wilderness visitor surveysfield and mail surveysmotivationpreferenceperceptionattitudesurvey samplingpsychological inventories

Biology · Environmental resource management · Geography · Wilderness · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Ecology · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental Science · Psychology · Social Psychology