Public perception of Foxes in urban areas

[Emile]

Hello Everyone,

I have decided to undertake a public perception of foxes survey for my 3rd year dissertation, the questionnaire asks a few questions concerning the impacts from foxes in urban areas (does the person think there are more positive than negatives) and other useful questions.

Id be very greatful if you could spread the below survey link to any friends or family as i need as many varied results as possible. Also if you would like to fill one out, you are more than welcome to. Although i would prefer if other people heard about the survery as you are all probably clued up about foxes and know more than what an average person would hear about.

Here is the survery Link : Fox Survey 2010-2011

Many Thanks

Emile

[Dogghound]

I have filled it in although it appears to be presented in quite a negative way, i.e question 4 could do with a none of the above box.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Agree with Dogghound on this one. It pretty much starts from a negative viewpoint and makes little attempt to gain answers of a positive nature about urban foxes. Good luck with the dissertation though.

Cheers,

Adam

[Emile]

Appreciate that Dogghound

The reason i didn't put a "none of the above" box is that i wanted to see in general if the public had to make a choice between the three options, which one would be picked. even if the difference was very marginal or in your case the person had mutual feelings towards the question.

[Emile]

As i said before.

This survey is specifically for the General public.

Hence members of this forum would naturally want to see positive options..
I am not saying that everyone feeds foxes and appreciates them, whilst none of the survey questions may apply to people on this forum.

Im interested in finding out wether what people hear about regarding foxes, such as attacks etc may influence their perception on them. The options are there if you have a more positive than negative view. especially the last one :

7. Do you feel there are more negative than positive impacts of foxes in urban areas?

I myself along with most of you would tick no for this question, as i know that bins are rarely rifled by them, as well as the effective control methods for lawn damage that are available, and that rarely mange mite would be the only disease that foxes may spread.

I hope you see what i am trying to get accross, if i went on an eastenders forum and posted this, the results would be completely different to what i would get from here. Which is why i need people of different ages and interests to complete this.

Sorry for the long winded message

[thunder]

Question 6 needs rewording so that it is more clear!

Quote
Foxes are becoming less fearless
Endquote

I think you mean "Foxes are becoming more fearless", that is, bolder, less fearful.

henrya

[Emile]

thanks thunder, amended

[ForestPaul]

You need to do a bit of work tidying this up

"Fowling and Damage of lawns"
Presumably you mean Fouling, or are you talking about them catching ducks ?

"Do you feel there are more negative than positive impacts of foxes in urban areas?" Yes or No.
I can't understand what that actually means.

"Do you personally feel foxes have increased in urban areas?"
Increased since when ?

"What Area do you live in?" Town or City
Lots of people live in neither a town nor a city.

The format of the questions and responses is inconsistent and makes it difficult to answer and impossible to draw any meaningful conclusions from the survey.

You'd be better off with a series of statements that people can rate on a fixed scale that is the same for each question e.g.
"Foxes have increased in urban areas in the last 10 years"
[ ] Strongly Disagree
[ ] Disagree
[ ] Neutral
[ ] Agree
[ ] Strongly Agree

[solus]

Er.... I hasten to add that I am in neither category, but why no "Under 20 - please state age" or "Over 70" options? People don't just die or become totally senile when they reach 70 you know, and they still have very valid opinions!

I also think the "Town or City" bit is too vague: if I was responding to this I could correctly respond that I live in a City while the fact would be that I regard where I live as being a suburban location on the edges of, but still within the bounds of, the City.

I agree with Dogghound re: question 4: if none of the three things influences someone's view on foxes how can they respond if there is no "None of these" or "Other - please state" options? In the same vein, question 7 ought to have a "Don't Know" option. As it is, I'm afraid I can't see the results of this questionnaire being of much use as it is not very well structured. Sorry!

Edit: I see ForestPaul has responded while I was deliberating!

One more point - I can't see your tutor/supervisor being overly impressed with the questionnaire as it stands and if you really want a reasonably representative cross-section of the urban/suburban population's views you are going to need to stand in various locations and ask random members of the public.

[allyryan]

I agree with all the above, and it will give most people who dislike foxes an excellent way of saying so. Please think more carefully with this questionnaire.