Effect of question context on a recreation satisfaction measure∗

This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time; it therefore in the public domain.

Abstract

When questions that measure satisfaction with a river trip are intermingled with questions that evaluate specific aspects of the trip, the average satisfaction score for a river is lower than when the satisfaction questions are presented alone. The effect of question context seems to be independent of the type of river being evaluated. These conclusions come from an analysis of variance of data from a survey of two rivers in which three question contexts were used. The findings confirm that caution is needed if results are to be compared between studies using different questionnaires, even if the relevant questions are identical.

Key words:

• satisfaction
• river recreation
• question context

Notes

This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time; it therefore in the public domain.