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Snowmobiling in the Adirondacks: Conjoint Analysis A conjoint analysis is used to determine the attribute of the public toward environmental issues and policy making. In general, conjoint analysis measures people’s willingness to pay for use and nonuse values. Because it is often hard to put a fixed dollar amount on ideas and feelings, conjoint analysis is relatively more reliable than contingent valuation. Contingent valuation asks survey participants for specific monetary values (for example, how much would you pay snowmobilers NOT to pollute), which often difficult to determine without extensive information. The wording of such surveys also elicits guilty or spiteful responses. Conjoint analysis bypasses these particular problems by asking survey takers to rate tangible, life-like scenarios that vary by defined variables. Each survey includes a section of required demographic fields. Demographic information is paramount in order to understand the background of the survey taker. Additionally, this information helps to explain certain correlations in variables during analysis and may be used to weed out obvious extremes. For example, a motel owner may be against any restrictions on snowmobiling in the Adirondacks because of the income that the sport brings to him. Age and gender questions flesh out the qualities of participants so that we may determine groups that are more or less concerned about specific issues. Occupation and household income let us know if relative wealth or interest factors into people's perception of snowmobiling issues and their willingness to pay. Residence and park frequenting fields separate use from non-use participants so that we may gauge the importance of the park's environment to both groups. Questions regarding snowmobile use allow us to see what policies and issues snowmobilers sympathize as compared to non-snowmobilers. Looking at market failures regarding snowmobile use in the Adirondacks, there are two obvious and potentially serious effects of their operation. Because both are key to overall enjoyment of the park, we created a survey with two sets of ratable scenarios. In the first question, we are examining snowmobiling and park congestion. This section will garner opinions on the current and acceptable amount of snowmobile use and third party tolerance (park and snowmobile congestion, number of trails), consequences visible in the park's natural environment (trail quality), and importance of snowmobiling in monetary terms (permit fee). The second scenario set examines snowmobile safety concerns, as well as gauging the popularity of possible policies restricting snowmobile use. Speed limits make the park safer for both rider and non-rider and decreases resultant noise pollution, while also forcing those unwilling to abide by speed regulations to go elsewhere. Age restrictions decrease the number of eligible drivers and therefore the total number snowmobilers in the Adirondacks. Mandatory licensing ensures that all drivers of snowmobiles in the park have a basic level of competence driving a snowmobile, increases overall safety in the park, and most importantly deters snowmobile operation because of opportunity costs. Permit fees deter snowmobilers not willing to pay for access to the park. Please follow the link to view the survey |