Visitor Attitudes Research Articles

The Attitudes of Social Workers, Health Visitors and School Nurses to Parental Involvement in Child Protection Case Conferences

The Attitudes of Social Workers, Health Visitors and School Nurses to Parental Involvement in Child Protection Case Conferences

Becoming More Publicly Oriented Inside and Outside the Museum: Comparisons of Attitudes of “Inside Publics” with Community and Visitor Attitudes

Becoming More Publicly Oriented Inside and Outside the Museum: Comparisons of Attitudes of “Inside Publics” with Community and Visitor Attitudes

The Educational and Recreational Potential of Fish Hatcheries

Communication with the public can be a very important part of a fish and wildlife management agency's overall strategy. However, the potential for education and environmental interpretation at fish culture stations is often overlooked. Large numbers of people visit fish hatcheries, thereby creating an opportunity to reach a large audience with minimal expenditure. To design an interpretive program for hatcheries, data are needed about the people who visit these facilities. This study was designed to collect basic demographic data and information about the knowledge and attitudes of visitors to three hatcheries run by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. From this information, it appears that hatcheries are a suitable location for education of the public. By cultivating the potential for educational and recreational opportunities at hatcheries, agencies might benefit from increased public support and understanding from a large and varied visitor population.

The Controlled Traffic System and Associated Wildlife Responses in Denali National Park

Wildlife observability and responses and visitor attitudes were sampled after a mandatory visitor shuttle bus transportation system was in operation for 10 years in Denali National Park, Alaska. Visitor approval of the park transportation policy increased from 80% to 89% from 1972 to 1982-83. Vehicles per day increased 50% from 1973-74 to 1982-83. Moose sightings per trip declined 72%, grizzly bear sightings declined 32%, while Dall sheep and caribou sightings remained constant over the same period. Allowing unlimited private vehicle access during the falls of 1982 and 1983 had little influence upon the numbers of wildlife seen. However, more wildlife were put to flight, flight distances increased, more grizzlies were thwarted from crossing the road, and visitors stopped near and approached wildlife afoot more often. Wildlife responses were significantly influenced by pre-stimulus wildlife behavior for all four species, the type of human behavior for moose and grizzlies, sex/age class for moose and caribou, group size for caribou, number of vehicles present for grizzlies, and the presence or absence of vegetation screening for moose and grizzlies (p<0.05). Moose were alert four times as often (32±21%) when close to the park road than when >1 km away (4.8±5.1%), and when close to the road they were alerted to 37±21% of all road stimuli, while caribou were alerted to only 21±11% (p<0.03) of road stimuli.Key words: wildlife viewing, visitor attitudes, wildlife response to traffic, Denali National Park, moose (Alces alces), Dall sheep (Ovis dalli), grizzly bear (Urusus arctos), caribou (Rangifer tarandus)

Attitudes of health visitors to fluoridation

A study of the attitudes of health visitors in urban com munities in northern and southern England was carried out in 1973 and 1979. The survey showed that two-thirds were in favour of fluoridation, but that there was consid erable scope for more attention to be paid to the subject in training programmes, both at college and in service.

Attitudes of Visitors to an Earth Sheltered Solar House

(1981). Attitudes of Visitors to an Earth Sheltered Solar House. Housing and Society: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 108-117.

An Assessment of Visitor Attitudes toward Resource Use and Management

An Assessment of Visitor Attitudes toward Resource Use and Management

Smoking in hospital: a survey of attitudes of staff, patients, and visitors.

A survey was carried out on attitudes to smoking in hospital. Analysis of 411 interviews showed that the majority (64%) of those questioned approved of some restrictions on patients smoking in the wards. Eighteen per cent would have liked to see a complete ban on smoking, while an identical number favoured no restrictions at all. Smoking habit influenced response; only 8% of smokers, compared with 25% of non-smokers, would have liked to see a total ban on smoking. Attitudes to smoking varied according to the status of the persons interviewed; only 6% of visitors and 7% of nurses approved of a complete ban on smoking, compared with 32% of medical students and 27% of doctors. The results suggest that the introduction of smoking and non-smoking areas in hospital wards would be approved by the majority of patients, staff, and visitors.

Survey of Visitor Attitude and Awareness at an Aquarium

Survey of Visitor Attitude and Awareness at an Aquarium

Alone with others: The paradox of privacy in wilderness

Attitudinal studies of wilderness visitors have indicated that people seek opportunities to limit interaction with other visitors so as to achieve privacy and solitude. This conventional interpretation of wilderness recreation was evaluated by comparing measures of visitor attitudes and social behavior in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park. Results show no association between visitor attitudes toward crowding and observed social interaction or behavior to avoid such social interaction. These findings suggest that subjective responses of visitors measured by questionnaires and interviews are often of debatable validity. Greater validity can be achieved by avoiding reliance on common‐sense interpretations in theory formulation and by employing multiple measurement techniques.

The minor road in devon—A study of visitors' attitudes

Brancher D. M. (1972) The minor road in Devon—A study of visitors' attitudes, Reg. Studies 6, 49–58. The problem of minor roads is reviewed, and the significance introduced of the cognition and attitudes of visitors in scenic areas. A survey is described, in which visitors were given unstructured interviews, using photographs as focus material. Sampling problems are discussed, the interview content is appraised, and qualitative themes extracted, including some relating to the behaviour of drivers, and to the desirability of road improvements. The results of this analysis are then clustered, together with the respondents' personal data, to generate tentative hypotheses for future, more structured, investigations.

Attitudes of mental hospital visitors towards unrestricted visiting.

A programme was undertaken to study the attitudes of visitors to mental hospitals. Initially a series of individual non-directive tape-recorded interviews were conducted on a small sample of visitors, who freely discussed various topics, including staff attitude, visiting problems and difficulties in having a mentally ill relative. A provisional questionnaire was constructed from the significant points of the recorded interviews and was used on another sample of visitors in a pilot study, on the basis of which a final ‘multiple choice’ questionnaire was designed incorporating 28 items. Copies of the final questionnaire were then distributed from the wards of two mental hospitals to consecutive visitors, with a stamped envelope addressed to Nottingham University, informing them that the study was in connection with an independent survey. The distribution continued until few new visitors attended. Of the two hospitals, the first, The Pastures (Hospital A), serves a wide county catchment area and has an ‘unrestricted visiting hours' policy; the second, Kingsway (Hospital B), on the other hand, has a ‘limited visiting hours' policy and serves a compact urban catchment area. Altogether 510 questionnaires (75 per cent) were returned completed, 306 (8o per cent) for Hospital A and 204 (70 per cent) for Hospital B at the end of the study. The rest of the paper is confined to the analysis of these 510 questionnaires in relation to the question on the effect of unrestricted visiting, which has already been studied by Barton et al., from the nurses' point of view. The particular question asked by us was, 'some hospitals allow visitors to visit at any convenient time. What effect do you think this would have on (1) the patients, (2) the visitors, (3) the nursing staff, (4) the doctors?’ The replies were to be given on a five point scale for each question. The scale was ‘Very good-Good-No effect-Poor-Very poor.’ the graded adjectives being determined from the earlier tape-recordings.

190. Attitudes of health visitors to possible developments

190. Attitudes of health visitors to possible developments

The Sensitive-Area Complex: A Contribution to the Theory of Guided Culture Contact

A visitor's attitudes toward and images of an alien culture are affected by his perception of the host culture's view of the status of his own country. The visitor perceives hostility as an active component of low-status ascription when interaction includes verbal references to certain "sensitive areas." The latter are the subjects of long-standing criticism of his culture by colonial powers, the mere mention of which recalls the historical hostility. These perceived assaults enhace his personal identification with the prestige of his home country, and he reacts by erecting a set of mechanisms in defense and praise of his country.

A Revision of Chapin's Social Status Scale

L individual or a family occupies with reference to the prevailing average standards of cultural possessions, effective income, material possessions, and participation in the group activities of the community.' In an effort to derive useful quantitative values for this type of social status, Chapin has built a scale which is based on the equipment and condition of living rooms of urban homes. A description of the various stages of development of the scale is available elsewhere2 and need not be repeated here. The purpose of the present report is to present a rationale for deriving weights for the items of the scale, based on a particular type of factor analysis of the I933 Social Status Scale, and to present a revised set of weights derived by that rationale, using data that Chapin had available. The underlying assumptions for using living room equipment as items of the scale are stated to be: (i) the living room is the room most likely to be the center of interaction of the family; (2) it reflects the cultural acquisitions, the material possessions, and the socio-economic status of the family; (3) the attitudes of friends and other visitors, and hence social status, may be advantageously influenced by the selection and proper display of cultural objects in the living room. In short, it is assumed that the material culture articles of living room equipment, whether window drapes, rugs, chairs, pictures, musical instruments, or newspapers and other devices of communication, reflect the attitudes of the members of the family; it is also assumed that these same articles condition the attitudes of others toward the family and consequently determine the social position in the community.3