Instructions for surveyors

New Melones Lake– Visitor Survey
Instructions for Survey Assistants

The following list is intended to help survey assistants with the process of conducting a
successful survey and to establish certain guidelines and proper etiquette for
communicating with potential survey respondents. Reclamation’s Survey Coordinator
will discuss/explain these guidelines with all potential survey assistants.
General guidelines:

The surveys will be handed out on-site each day during the survey period. Each
survey assistant will have a sufficient amount of surveys, clipboards and pencils
to hand out for the established survey period. During non-survey hours assistants
will contact their Survey Coordinator if they need additional supplies.

The preferred survey method is to have respondents fill out the survey on-site,
which gives them the opportunity to ask questions. If this method is not an option
(i.e., the respondent has to leave immediately after his or her activity), ask politely
if the respondent would fill out the survey later and drop it off at a predetermined
drop-off location (i.e. with the campground host or a drop box at the Visitor
Center) or send it in by mail to Bureau of Reclamation, Attn: E. Vasquez, 7794
Folsom Dam Road, Folsom, CA 95630.

Survey assistants should be dressed professionally, preferably in a campground
host uniform. The assistants should wear appropriate attire and a name tag.

All survey assistants shall have an appropriate number of business cards available
to provide potential respondents upon request. The business cards will display the
name and telephone number of a Reclamation contact who can answer questions
or verify the legitimacy of the information collection.

Please always be safe. Although it is important that you approach as many of the
boaters and campers as possible during your assigned survey period, it is much
more important to be safe. If you have the feeling that a group of visitors could be
threatening or if you are threatened, please do not approach them and/or leave the
scene immediately. Do not put yourself at risk! Be careful of highway traffic.
Use common sense and wear appropriate clothing for the weather conditions.
Protect yourself with hat, rain gear, sunscreen, water, etc.

How to survey recreationists:

Please always be polite, friendly, and neutral. When you approach a single person
or a group of recreationists, please greet them in a friendly, professional, and nonthreatening way and introduce yourself. Explain to them that you are conducting
a survey for the Bureau of Reclamation, the purpose of the study, and the

approximate time it will take to fill-out the survey. For example one introduction
might be:
“Hello my name is Joe Surveyor. I am performing a survey on behalf of the
Bureau of Reclamation. The survey asks about your participation in outdoor
recreation activities at New Melones Lake. The information is very important
to the long-term planning and management of New Melones Lake and will
take about 15 minutes to complete. Would you like to participate in the
survey?”

.Assure the recreationist that the responses will be treated with anonymity and
confidentiality (respondents do not have to provide their names and/or addresses).
If they agree to take the survey, hand them an on-site questionnaire, clipboard,
and pencil and let them fill out the survey.

Most of the recreationists will be happy to fill out a survey, but be prepared that
some people will refuse. Please be polite and thank them anyway.

When a small group of people (i.e. two friends or a family unit) recreates
together, please ask only one person out of that group to fill out a survey. If the
group is large (i.e. two separate family units recreating together, but traveling
separately), you can hand out a survey to one person of each family unit.

Please try to survey each group of recreationists that you see during the assigned
survey period. In a campground, approach each separate group of campers or at a
boat ramp, approach each group of boaters after they are finished with their
boating trip (i.e., at the boat ramp or parking lot when they are loading up and
cleaning the boat). If there are several groups exiting the reservoir at the same
time, please try to talk to each group.

If possible, please alternate between male and female respondents. However, do
not miss a potential respondent or group of respondents, because there is no male
or female in that particular group. It is important to get a representative sample of
the recreating population.

Only ask recreationists to fill out a survey if they are at least 18 years old. If there
is any doubt, ask them politely how old they are and why you need to know their
age. If they are younger than 18, please apologize to them and explain that the
survey procedures do not allow minors to fill out a survey.

If a group of recreationists cannot speak English, please write non-English
speaker on the top of a blank survey and put that survey in the completed survey
box. This is a way to track the non-response due to language so please verify that
none of the members of the group speak English.



Please assist respondents and try to answer any questions that they might have
about the survey to the best of your knowledge. Please try to give unbiased
answers, that is, do not take one side over another on an issue. If you are unsure
about the answer to a question, please be honest and apologize. If you know of a
qualified person/agency that might know the answer (i.e. the survey coordinator,
principal survey investigator, or your supervisor), suggest that you could give that
qualified person a call and try to find an answer to their question. If a respondent
does not know the answer to a question on the questionnaire, tell them to leave it
blank. However, try to get as many responses as possible by clarifying any
questions or uncertainties.

Please take the survey(s), pencils, and clipboards back from the respondents after
they are finished and thank them politely for their participation. Give the
completed surveys to the Survey Coordinator at least at the end of your shift. All
surveys and information requests should be kept in a safe place until pick-up by
the survey coordinator.

If the respondent would like to have a copy of the results of the survey, please let
them know that an executive summary of the survey report is expected by
December 2007 and that it should be available at that time on the New Melones
RMP/EIS website:
http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/field_offices/new_melones/rmp.html.

Have some business cards with the URL already written on the back that you can
handout to respondents when they want more information on the New Melones
RMP/EIS or a copy of the survey report.

•

After you have given the respondent the website information, if they still request a
hard copy be sent by mail. Write their names and addresses down on a separate
sheet of paper and assure them that they will receive the results after they are
available. Store the names and addresses in a safe location but separately from
the completed survey. Do not store the personal information of the respondent
with their completed survey.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR EFFORT!!!