A number of residents of Dullsville have complained to the mayor that the center of town looks shabby compared to the centers of many other nearby towns. At the mayor’s request, the Parks Department has put together a proposal for converting the town square parking lot into a sitting park with flower displays—it modeled the design on a similar park in the neighboring town of Flowerville. The annualized cost of installing and maintaining the park, and relocating parking to nearby Short Street, would be about $120,000. With about 40,000 households paying property taxes, the project would cost an average household about $3 per year.
You have been asked to give advice about conducting a survey to measure the benefits of the project.
a. The Parks Department proposes conducting a telephone survey. Does this seem like an appropriate survey vehicle?
b. How might a random sample be drawn for a telephone survey?
c. Write a statement that could be read by the interviewer to describe the project.
d. Write questions to implement the open-ended WTP method.
e. Propose a procedure for implementing the dichotomous choice method.