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

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Abstract
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.

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