Construction of the Questionnaire
A six-page, multi-item questionnaire was developed by the research team
in consultation with staff from Tourism Tamworth to collect data that was
related to the aims of the study. The questionnaire was divided into three
discrete sections, each containing a series of closed- or limited-response
items. In addition, three open-ended items were also included in the survey
instrument.
In terms of its structure and format, the first section of the survey asked
a range of socio-demographic details about the study respondents. This involved
asking respondents how they traveled to the region and how long
they were staying. In addition, questions relating to visitor expenditure, number
of people in their traveling party, and their average yearly income were
also included. Further items relating to how they had gathered information
about the region and the principal reason why they were attending the TCMF
was also incorporated into this section. The second section of the questionnaire
included a series of items designed to measure why respondents chose
to visit the region and to identify where they stayed, while the third section
collected information regarding their level of satisfaction with various aspects
of the visit. The majority of the items used in the survey instrument were
based on those used successfully in a past research study by Ballantyne,
Brown, Pegg, and Scott (2008) and Scott and Pegg (2005), which explored
issues pertaining to visitor attitudes and motivations in various tourism settings.
To suit the needs of this study, the particular wording of individual
items were modified to match the event setting and characteristics.