1024-0224 - Programmatic Form

National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Social Science Program

OMB Control Number 1024-0224
Current Expiration Date:8-31-2014

Programmatic Approval for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys
1.
2.

Project
Title:

Happy Isles and Half Dome Trail Corridors Visitor
Use Study

Abstract:

Submission Date:

4-18-2012

The Happy Isles Trail and Half Dome Trail Corridors are two of the most heavily visited and
iconic trail corridors within Yosemite National Park. These trails also has the highest
number of search and rescue (SAR) incident occurrences. The park is interested in
understanding the causes that lead to these events, as well as how they might help
prevent such events. To understand this, the park wants to survey visitors’ awareness of
the hazards and risks associated with hiking along the trail corridors. This will also include
asking visitors about their perceptions of information along the trail and potential
management actions.
The results from the Half Dome survey will be used to inform the Half Dome Trail
Stewardship Plan Environmental Assessment (EA) for a long-term strategy for visitor use
management.
(not to exceed 150 words)

3.

Principal Investigator Contact Information
First Name:
Title:
Affiliation:
Street Address:
City:
Phone:
Email:

4.

Steve
Last Name: Lawson
Director
Resource Systems Group, Inc.
55 Railroad Row
White River Junction
State: VT
Zip code:
802.295.4999
Fax: 802.295.1006
[email protected]

Park or Program Liaison Contact Information
First Name:
Title:
Park:
Street Address:
City:
Phone:
Email:

Bret
Last Name: Meldrum
Branch Chief, Visitor Use and Social Sciences
Yosemite National Park
5083 Foresta Rd
El Portal
State: CA
Zip code:
209-379-1216
Fax: 209-379-1131
[email protected]

95318

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Project Information
5. Park(s) For Which Research is to be Conducted:

Yosemite National Park

6.

Survey Dates:

7.

Type of Information Collection Instrument (Check ALL that Apply)

Happy Isles Trail
Half Dome Trail

Mail-Back
Questionnaire
Other (explain)
8.

Survey Justification:
(Use as much space
as needed; if
necessary include
additional
explanation on a
separate page.)

On-Site
Questionnaire

June 1, 2012
May 1, 2012

Face-to-Face
Interview

TO
TO

Telephone
Survey

September 30, 2012
August 31, 2012

Focus Groups

Social science research in support of park planning and management is mandated
in the NPS Management Policies 2006 (Section 8.11.1, “Social Science Studies”).
The NPS pursues a policy that facilitates social science studies in support of the NPS
mission to protect resources and enhance the enjoyment of present and future
generations (National Park Service Act of 1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 USC 1, et seq.). NPS
policy mandates that social science research will be used to provide an
understanding of park visitors, the non-visiting public, gateway communities and
regions, and human interactions with park resources. Such studies are needed to
provide a scientific basis for park planning, development.
NPS policy mandates that social science research will be used to provide an
understanding of park visitors, the non-visiting public, gateway communities and
regions, and human interactions with park resources. Such studies are needed to
provide a scientific basis for park planning, development, operations,
management, education, and interpretive activities. According to NPS
Management Policies 2006, the NPS is directed to provide for quality recreation
experiences and to reduce or remove hazards that may not be appropriate or
practicable in a national park setting” while recognizing that visitors must assume
a degree of responsibility for their own safety and experiences.
Yosemite National Park (YOSE) accommodates over 3 million visitors per year. The
Happy Isles and Half Dome trails are the most popular hiking corridors in Yosemite
National Park. Due to increases in visitor use, natural hazards, and search and
rescue incidents, the managers at YOSE have requested this information because
visitor-use and safety management on these trails is a priority at the park.
Mangers are directed to ensure safe, high-quality visitor experiences. This
information collection will help managers to better understand visitor use,
awareness and perception associated with trail corridor.
This collection will use two questionnaires to provide YOSE managers with
information about the recreational uses of the Happy Isles Trail and Half Dome
Trail. The surveys will be used to determine the causes that lead to visitor
accidents and the efforts related search and rescue events at Happy Isles Trails;
and the other will try to understand visitor use and the quality of the online permit
reservation system at Half Dome.
The results of both surveys will help to identify a long-term visitor use strategy for
these iconic trails. The data will be used to provide scientifically defensible data
that are needed to develop future management options and planning activities
that will be used to address visitor-use management in the Park.

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9.

Survey
Methodology: (Use
as much space as
needed; if necessary
include additional
explanation on a
separate page.)

(a) Respondent Universe:
The respondent universe for both surveys will be all visitors, 18 years and older.
During the last 5 years, the park averaged just over 1,700,000 recreational visits
during the study period (peak summer season); this study proposal anticipates
contacting 1,250 recreation visitors.
Half Dome Trail:
June 1 - September 30, 2012
Happy Isles Trail:
May 1 – August 31, 2012.
(b) Sampling Plan/Procedures:
Half Dome Trail
Visitor survey sampling will occur on a total of 15 randomly selected days during
the peak summer visitation season. During each sampling day between 9:00 a.m.
and 4:00 p.m., trained surveyors will be stationed at the base of the Half Dome
Trail. When the sampling period begins, the surveyors will approach the first visitor
group descending from the Half Dome Trail and ask them to participate in the
survey. When the surveyor has recruited a group to participate, he/she will
identify a single member of the group to serve as the study participant by asking
for the member of the group whose birthday is closest to the current date. The
surveyor will record the date and time directly onto the questionnaire.
The surveyor will then hand the questionnaire to the visitor, and instruct him/her
to complete the instrument while on-site. The surveyor will also be available for
any clarifications regarding questionnaire. Surveyors will wear NPS staff, NPS
volunteer or Student Conservation Association intern shirts and hats so that they
will be easily identified by visitors.
After the first interception, the surveyors will intercept every 5th group to pass by
the survey location. A selected member (i.e., member of group with the closest
birthday) of the group will be asked to participate in the survey. This process will
continue throughout the sampling day, resulting in approximately 50 groups
intercepted per sampling day. A series of short breaks for the surveyors will be
designed into the sampling schedule.
Happy Isles Trail
Visitor survey sampling will occur on a total of 15 randomly selected days during
the peak summer visitation season. Sampling days will be stratified by day of the
week and location, with four sampling locations (surveys will be divided equally at
each location) –
1)
2)
3)
4)

Happy Isles Trailhead,
John Muir Trail at its Junction with the trail to Glacier Point,
Vernal Fall viewing area, and
Nevada Fall viewing area

On each sampling day, trained surveyors will be stationed at each sampling
location from 8am to 5pm. When the sampling period begins, the surveyors at
each sampling location will approach the first visitor group exiting the study area
and ask them to participate in the survey. If members of the visitor group agree to

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participate, the eligible person (18 years of age or older) in the group whose
birthday is closest to the sampling day will be asked to complete the
questionnaire.
When the surveyor has completed his/her contact with the group, the surveyor
will ask the next visitor group exiting the study area to participate in the survey.
This process will continue throughout the sampling period. Visitors will be asked to
complete the questionnaire on-site in the presence of the surveyors, who will be
available to answer any questions and collect the surveys upon completion. Those
who refuse to fill out the survey on-site will be considered a “refusal”.
(c) Instrument Administration:
Visitors selected for participation in the survey will be read the following script:
“Hello, my name is _________. I am conducting a survey for the
National Park Service to better understand your use of this trail in
Yosemite National Park. Your participation is voluntary and all the
responses will be kept anonymous. Would you be willing to answer
some important questions regarding your visit here? This should only
take about 10 minutes.”
If YES – then ask, “has any member of your group participated in this
survey before?”
If “YES” (already asked to participate) then, “Thank you for
participating in this study but you have already provided us with
the information we need. Have a great day.”
If “NO” (has not been previously asked to participate) then,
“Thank you for participating in our survey today. “Who in your
group (at least 18 years old) has the next birthday?
If NO– (soft refusal) - ask them if they would be willing to answer the
non-response bias questions (listed below) and then thank them for their
time.
1. Where did you start your hike today?
2. Did you encounter a park ranger on your hike today?
3. Approximately how many previous hikes have you taken in
Yosemite National Park in the past 12 months?
Record responses in spaces provided on the tracking sheet

If NO– (hard refusal) - end the contact and thank them for their time.
The visitors that agree to participate will be asked to complete and return
the questionnaire onsite; and address any questions to the surveyor.
The group size, type of activity (i.e., day hiking, backpacking), and presence or
absence of children of all groups contacted (including those who choose not to
participate) as well as the responses to the non-response bias questions will be
recorded in a survey log for the purposes of testing for non-response bias.

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(d) Expected Response Rate/Confidence Levels:
Based on a series of similar visitor surveys conducted at five locations in Yosemite
National Park range from 90% to 57% (Lawson, Kiser, Hockett, Reigner,
Chamberlin, & Choi, 2008; Blotkamp, Meldrum, Morse, & Hollenhorst, 2010).
Lawson et al. (2009) reported an overall response rate of approximately 90% (n =
291) on a similar intercept survey study on the Half Dome Trail. The anticipated
response rates for this collection are listed below:
Half Dome:
An 80% response rate is expected for this survey, based on previous and
nearly identical studies in Yosemite National Park. A total of 750 visitors will
be contacted for the survey. It is expected that approximately 600 visitors will
respond to the survey instrument. Based on this sample size, there will be
95% confidence that study findings will be accurate to within 4 percentage
points (Fowler, 1993).
Happy Isles:
An 80% response rate is expected for this survey. A total of 500 visitor groups
will be contacted during the sampling period. Based on previous and nearly
identical studies in Grand Teton, Yosemite, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon
National Parks, it is expected that 400 visitors will agree to participate in the
survey.
Based on the survey sample size, there will be 95% confidence that the survey
findings will be accurate to within 5 percentage points (Fowler, 1993), and will
have a power level greater than .80 for any number of statistical tests (two-tailed
independent samples t-test, multivariate regression), at the .05 alpha-level. Thus,
the proposed sample size will be adequate for bi-variate comparisons and will
allow for comparisons between study sites and more sophisticated multivariate
analysis if deemed necessary.

Happy Isles Trail
Onsite Contacts
Half Dome Trail
Onsite Contacts

Number
of
Contacts

Expected
Response
Rate

Expected
Number of
Responses

Margin of
Error +/%

500

80%

400

5

750

80%

600

4

1,250

1,000

5

(e) Strategies for dealing with potential non-response bias:
The number of refusals will be recorded, reported, and screened for non-response
bias. The three non-response bias questions listed above will be used along with
the comparison of respondent characteristics (group size, time of visit) to nonrespondent characteristics gathered on the survey. Results of the non-response
analysis will be reported and the implications for management discussed. In
particular, information will be provided to the park about subgroups of visitors to
whom the results may not be generalizable, if non-response bias is detected.
(f) Description of any pre-testing and peer review of the methods and/or
instrument (recommended):
The survey methods and questionnaire were reviewed by Yosemite National Park,
Resource Management and Sciences and Visitor Protection Divisions. The
questions in this survey are similar to those used in previous studies at several
other national parks. All of the questions appear in (or are variations of) survey
items in the NPS “Pool of Known Questions.”

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Burden Estimates:

We plan to approach a total of 1,250 individuals during the entire sampling
period. With the anticipated response rates mentioned in section 9d above,
we expect to receive 1,000 total responses for this collection.
We expect that the initial contact time will be at least one minute per person
(1,250 x 1 minute = 21 hours). We expect that 250 visitors will refuse to
participate during the initial on-site contact, for those individuals we will
record their reason for refusal and ask them to answer the three questions
that will be used for the non-response check. This is estimated to take no
more than 2 minutes (250 x 2 = 8 hours) to complete each session.
For those who agree to participate (n= 1,000) we expect that 1,000 will
complete and return the survey, with that, an additional 10 minutes will be
required to complete the follow through (1,000 response x 10 minutes = 167
hours). The burden for this collection is estimated to be 196 hours.

Estimated Number of
Contacts
Total Number of Initial
Contacts
Estimated number of
on-site refusals
Total Number of
Responses

Estimation of Time
1,250
250
1,000

Estimated Time (mins.)
to Complete Initial
Contact
On-site Refusal/
nonresponse
Time to complete and
return surveys

1
2
10

Estimation of Respondent
Burden
Estimated Burden Hours
Estimated Burden Hours
Estimated Burden Hours
Total Burden

21
8
167
196

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11.

Reporting Plan:

The results of this information collection will be presented in a summary report to
the NPS. Key estimates from the data will be descriptive in nature, primarily
measures of central tendency (mean and median), dispersion (standard deviation),
and frequency distributions. Some tests for differences in means and proportions by
various sub-groups are expected, as well as correlations between evaluations and
use levels (measured by a descriptive use monitoring program). Analyses will
generally follow standard methods for survey research in parks and recreation
settings (Vaske, 2008).
Electronic versions of the final report will be submitted as required by the NPS Social
Science Division and to the Yosemite National Park staff.

REFERENCES CITED:
Blotkamp, A., Meldrum, B., Morse, W., and Hollenhorst, S. (2010). Yosemite National Park Visitor Study, Summer
2009. Visitor Services Project Report No. 215. Moscow, ID: National Park Service and University of Idaho,
Cooperative Park Studies Unit.
Fowler, F. (1993). Survey Research Methods, 2nd Edition. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
Lawson, S., Kiser, B., Hockett, K., Reigner, N., Chamberlin, R., and Choi, J. (2008). Visitor Use Computer Simulation
Modeling to Address Transportation Planning and User Capacity Management in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite
National Park. Final study report. Virginia Polytechnic and State University.
Vaske, J. (2008). Survey Research and Analysis: Applications in Parks, Recreation, and Human Dimensions. State
College, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc.

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