Assessing the accuracy of respondents reports of the location of their home relative to a national forest boundary and forest cover

Abstract

Local, state, and national agencies charged with managing wildlands in the United States are now seeking to learn more about the public's preferences for managing forests. For this reason agency wildland managers are making use of survey research to supplement their public input processes. Agency managers often choose random-digit dial telephone surveys because of the speed and relatively low cost associated with this mode of administration. This paper assesses the accuracy of responses to a question that asks the location of respondents' homes relative to a National Forest boundary. The analysis also assesses the accuracy of respondent reports on forest cover in the area surrounding their home. We find non-ignorable error in the responses to both questions. The remainder of this paper is divided into three sections. First, the methods used for this study are described as are limitations of the study. Second, we illustrate the study's results. Finally, we discuss our results and conclusions.

Citation

Baldridge, John D.; Sylvester, James T.; Borrie, William T. 2005. Assessing the accuracy of respondents reports of the location of their home relative to a national forest boundary and forest cover. In: Proceedings, American Statistical Association; 60th Annual Conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research; 2005 May 12-15; Miami, FL. Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association: 3775-3777 online at www.amstat.org/sections/srms/Proceedings/.