Review the background of our client's situation in past assignments.  Since we haven't yet provided any material deliverables to our client, there have been no substantive changes in our focus or the essential issues.  Recall our conjecture that opposition to a proposed landfill might be associated with such factors as population density, per capita income, home ownership rates, education levels, and such.  In order to gain insights regarding the effects of these sorts of factors, we could conduct exploratory interviews on a sample of people who could be affected by the proposal of a landfill near where they live. 

One way to interview people is through telephone depth interviews.  Below is a letter that could be sent to our client to propose a TDI study.  On the assumption that our client agrees that a telephone survey should be conducted in the manner proposed in this letter, write the script for the TDI. 

Your survey must include a combination of quantitative measures as well as exploratory qualitative probes.  On this TDI, you are to focus primarily on quantitative measures; you will be asked to use qualitative probes when you design a focus group topic guide.  For the sake of a classroom assignment, your quantitative questions must include both Likert scales and semantic differential scales of styles that were discussed in this course.  Do not invent your own kinds of scales. 

For a survey of this type, it is appropriate to offer an incentive for people to participate via an honorarium.  For this study, indicate to the respondent that the survey is expected to take fifteen minutes and that an honorarium of $25 will be sent if the respondent qualifies to take the survey and completes the survey.  As with the screener that you designed in the last assignment, be sure to include a statement (at the front) regarding confidentiality. 

Refer to our Landfill Recruiting Screener assignment: this TDI will follow the same general sampling procedure with a total of 54 respondents. 

Note that it is likely that you would not be administering the survey yourself.  Therefore, anything is not meant to be read on the phone should be put in bold and capital letters.  Be sure to clearly identify branches and skips when needed.  Don't forget to identify your survey form with the study number and study title.

Dear Ms. Hasmatt,

As a followup to our phone conversation, here is a proposal to explore some initial answers to the kinds of questions that you had. 

Objective

The present study would be an initial exploration into questions associated with the level of opposition that different kinds of people might have toward a landfill in their county.  Although we suspect that factors such as education level, income level, and population density might be associated with peoples' propensity to generate opposition to a landfill, we don't know if they actually do and, if they do, we don't know if people with lower or with higher levels on these factors are more or less likely to generate opposition.  The objective of this survey is to gain insights regarding factors that might be associated with greater or lesser opposition to a landfill. 

Methodology

Our proposal is to randomly call residents of a target county that you choose after reviewing the results of our demographic analysis.  You might instead prefer to sample from a multiple county area, and the screener section of the proposed TDI can easily be modified to your preference.  The quota sample of these residents would include

• some who reside in more densely populated areas and some who reside in less densely populated areas
• some who have higher income levels and some who have lower income levels
• some who have higher education levels and some who have lower education levels

Question Areas

Recommended survey flow is as follows:

1. Initial screening questions regarding the appropriateness of the person on the phone to participate in the survey (i.e., a head of household, residence in the target county or counties)

2. Screening question regarding the neighborhood density of the household (high, medium, low). 

3. Screening question regarding household income level (high, medium, low). 

4. Screening question regarding the respondent's level of education (high, medium, low). 

5. Questions regarding the respondent's knowledge of the currently proposed landfill in Red River county.  (If and what.)

6. Questions regarding feelings and beliefs regarding this particular proposed landfill if the respondent has any knowledge of it.

7. Questions regarding feelings and beliefs regarding landfills in general.

8. An accurate educational message (about two paragraphs) regarding the safety of this kind of landfill (medical and hazardous waste), government regulation that guarantees such safety, and aesthetic features that are currently being built into landfills of this type.  (This message will be constructed in consultation with you.)

9. Questions regarding feelings and beliefs regarding this kind of landfill.

10. Questions regarding feelings and behavioral intentions regarding a landfill if one were to be proposed near the respondent's house. 

11. Probes regarding where someone would probably look or go to find information about such landfills. 

12. Probes regarding the likelihood of local opposition to a landfill.

13. Probes regarding what might be the reasons for local opposition to a landfill.

Analysis

Some of the questions will be quantitative (attitude scales) and some questions will be qualitative (open ended).  Our interest is in whether people of different demographics (education and such) exhibit differences in initial attitudes and if these groups exhibit differences in attitudes and beliefs after receiving the educational message.  We will provide you with a summary of the numerical averages of responses to quantitative questions and will provide a written summary of the qualitative responses.  Where appropriate, these will be broken out by respondent demographics.

Timeline

Our estimated timeline is as follows:

Week 1: Write and edit a telephone questionnaire (in consultation with and approved by you).

Weeks 2 and 3: Conduct the telephone surveys.

Week 4: Compile and analyze data, write reports.

Week 5: Present results to you orally and in written report form.

Budget

Since the materials that we would consume are part of the normal, reasonable costs for a student, there will be no cost to you for materials.  Since this is a student learning project, there also would be no cost to you for time.  However, since students cannot be asked to incur the costs of long distance phone calls to outlying areas, you would have to allow these calls to be made from your shop.

Ms. Hasmatt, please let me know if you need any additional information.  If you believe that anything in our proposal should be changed, let us know as soon as possible.  Thanks for this opportunity for our students to work with you.

Sincerely,

  -  Bob O.