Standardised Visitor Surveys
Introduction
The Sydney Parks Group Standard Visitor Survey (SVS) is a standard core set of questions which member agencies plan to use in all park visitor surveys, with a view to establishing a common database with findings which will be comparable between parks, between agencies and over time. Actual questionnaires used will generally include more questions than the core list, reflecting the needs of the agency at the time.
The SVS was trialled over the period January 2003 - December 2004. Some changes were made as a result of the trial, and the SVS format has now been confirmed for an indefinite period. Sydney Parks Group members are in the process of discussing mechanisms to consolidate future visitor survey findings into a common, accessible database.
Other park management and research agencies are invited to use the SVS in their own survey work and in due course to contribute to the development of the common data-base.
Conducting a Visitor Survey
It is not possible to provide a complete guide to the conduct of park visitor surveys here. However some key points are listed below:
- To achieve comparability, it is important that the wording and coding of the SVS core questions not be altered.
- Conducting a pilot - of perhaps 12-20 interviews - is advisable, to test the wording of additional questions, questionnaire layout, etc.
- It is advisable to use interviewers to conduct the survey. Relying on visitors to complete and return questionnaires results in high wastage, incomplete questionnaires and, often, an unrepresentative sample.
- Interviewers should be instructed to select respondents at random - eg. the next person to pass a designated spot - they should not ‘pick and choose’ preferred respondents.
Necessary sample size depends on the detail of the anticipated analysis - for example, if the characteristics of various user sub-groups is to be analysed, then the sample-size of each sub-group must be large enough to permit the required analysis. All sample survey findings are subject to margins of error - see the table below.
| Survey results/percentages found from sample | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample size | 50% | 40 or 60% | 30 or 70% | 20 or 80% | 10 or 90% | 5 or 95% |
| 100 | 9.8 | 9.6 | 9.0 | 7.8 | 5.9 | 4.3 |
| 150 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 7.3 | 6.4 | 4.8 | 3.5 |
| 200 | 6.9 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 4.2 | 3.0 |
| 250 | 6.2 | 6.1 | 5.7 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 2.7 |
| 300 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 2.5 |
| 400 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 2.1 |
| 500 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| 750 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| 1000 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 1.3 |
Interpretation of table: for example: for a sample size of 400: a survey finding of 30% is subject to a confidence interval of ±4.4%, which means we can be 95% certain that the real value lies in the range 25.6% to 34.4%.
NB:- These confidence intervals apply regardless of the size of the population from which the sample is drawn. To halve the confidence interval it is necessary to quadruple the sample size
The Core Questions
Download a word document version of the SVS for incorporation into any Visitor Survey here: spgquestionnaire.doc (DOC, 58kb).
Or download a pdf document version of the SVS for incorporation into any Visitor Survey here: spgquestionnaire.pdf (PDF, 104kb).
Analysis & Return
Park agencies and others intending on using the SVS are asked to contact Tony Veal from the University of Technology, Sydney by email at: Tony.Veal@uts.edu.au
It is hoped to compile a central register of surveys conducted using the SVS, to provide a database for future reference.
Various computer packages are available to analyse questionnaire survey data. Advice can be obtained from the University of Technology Sydney by emailing Tony.Veal@uts.edu.au.