Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Evaluations of Extension Programs have been examined in order to find ways of improving the accuracy of forms now being used by the University of Florida to evaluate the impacts of extension programming. Mixed mode (collecting data by more than one procedure, e.g. telephone plus mail) research by committee members has influenced the design of surveys in Oregon for a nationally sponsored survey on persons with disabilities in order to facilitate response from people unable to respond by certain modes. Research on ways of improving the quality of response to open-ended questions in Washington has encouraged similar research in Oregon and Florida that has significantly extended the original findings, and thus our knowledge on how to write effective open-ended questions. Research in Florida has provided new insight in the conditions under which response category order makes a difference in which response category is chosen, helping to explain why order sometimes does and does not make a difference. Research in Montana is utilizing results from experimental research in Oregon, Florida and Washington to design customer satisfaction surveys, and will extend that research through inclusion of additional experiments. Research in Washington has shown that opinion scales are likely to produce different answers in telephone and web surveys, thus making it extremely difficult to conduct mixed-mode surveys on opinion items without adjusting the numerical findings. Work at the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that changes occurring in the use of landlines and cell phones are not yet major factors preventing the conduct of quality general public surveys, the trends are in the direction of becoming a major problem in the near future. Nevada has presented workshops on e-survey methodology to faculty at the University of Nevada, which included work by other WERA 1001 members. Iowa has utilized knowledge produced by WERA 1001 members in its proposal to develop a national center for the conduct of rural population surveys. Research projects to be conducted in 2007 by WERA participants in Florida, Oregon, Montana, and Washington will include experiments that replicate or expand upon experiments conducted in 2006.

Cui M., Lorenz F.O., Conger R.D., Melby J.N., Bryant C.M. 2005. Observer, self and partner reports of hostile behaviors in romantic relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family 67:1169-1181. Beebe, T. J., M. E. Davern, D. D. McAlpine, K. T. Call and T. H. Rockwood 2005."Increasing response rates in a survey of Medicaid enrollees: the effect of a prepaid monetary incentive and mixed modes (mail and telephone)." Medical Care 43(4): 411-4. Burdge, R.J. and R.A. Robertson. 2004. Social Impact Assessment and the Public Involvement Process, in R.J. Burdge ed., A Conceptual Approach to Social Impact Assessment. Middletown, WI: Social Ecology Press. pp. 177-187. Dillman, Don A., Arina Gertseva and Taj Mahon-Haft. 2005. "Achieving Usability in Establishment Surveys Through the Application of Visual Design Principles." Journal of Official Statistics, 21(2): 183-214. Gessert, C. E., K. Hyer, R. L. Kane, T. Rockwood, A. B. Brassard, K. Desjardins and R. A. Kane. 2005. "Cognitive impairment and quality-of-life: views of providers of long-term care services." Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders 19(2): 85-90. Kane, R. L., B. Bershadsky, T. Rockwood, K. Saleh and N. C. Islam (2005). "Visual Analog Scale pain reporting was standardized." Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 58(6): 618-23. Hartley, T. and R.A. Robertson. 2004 "Cooperative Research and Fishery Science and Management in New England". In Managing Our Nations Fisheries: Past, Present and Future. D. Witherell (ed.) Proceedings of conference on fishery management in the United States held in Washington, D.C. November, 2003. pp. .248-249 Kane, R. L., T. Rockwood, K. Hyer, K. Desjardins, A. Brassard, C. Gessert and R. Kane 2005. "Rating the importance of nursing home residents' quality of life." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 53(12): 2076-82. Kralewski, J., B. E. Dowd, A. Kaissi, A. Curoe and T. Rockwood (2005). "Measuring the culture of medical group practices." 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Washington State University: Pullman. 72pp. Pawlawski, K. and R.A. Robertson. 2005. Public Involvement and New Hampshires Statewide Comprehensive Planning Process: A Case Study. Proceedings of the Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium, Compiled and Edited by Rudy Schuster Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-302. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. Shankar, S., L. Robison, M. E. Jenney, T. H. Rockwood, E. Wu, J. Feusner, D. Friedman, R. L. Kane and S. Bhatia 2005. "Health-related quality of life in young survivors of childhood cancer using the Minneapolis-Manchester Quality of Life-Youth Form." Pediatrics 115(2): 435-42. Robertson, R.A. and G. Caporossi. 2004. New England Recreation Fisher' attitudes towards marine protected areas: A preliminary investigation. In Global Challenges of Parks and Protected Area Management. Carlo Delfino (editor). Sassari Italy. 149-159. Rockwood, T. 2005. Quality of life with urinary and fecal incontinence. Urinary and Fecal Incontinence: An Interdisciplinary Approach. H. D. Becker, A. Stenzl, D. Wallwiender and T. T. Zittel. Berlin, Springer: 369-384. Rockwood, T. and M. Constantine 2005. Demographic and Psychosocial Factors. Understanding Health Care Outcomes Research. R. L. Kane. Gaithersburg, MD, Aspen. Dillman, Don A. and Leah Melani Christian. 2005. "Survey Mode as a Source of Instability Across Surveys." Field Methods 17(1): 30-52. Robertson, R.A. and R. Whittaker. 2005. Private Sector and University Collaboration: The Case of Isles of Shoals Steamship Company and UNH's Tourism Planning and Development Program. Proceedings of the Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium, Compiled and Edited by Rudy Schuster Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-302. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. Smyth, Jolene, D., Don A. Dillman, Leah Melani Christian, and Michael J. Stern. 2005. "Comparing Check-All and Forced-Choice Question Formats in Web Surveys: The Role of Satisficing, Depth of Processing, and Acquiescence in Explaining Differences." Social and Economic Science Research Center Technical Report 05-029. Washington State University: Pullman. 30pp. Wiersma, J. and R.A. Robertson. 2005. Traffic Congestion and Tourist Displacement: The Case of the NH Route 1A/1B Corridor. Proceedings of the Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium, Compiled and Edited by Rudy Schuster Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-302. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station.