3. Method
We conducted an online survey of airports in western Canada to
determine the use of AWMPs; animal attractants; usage and
outcomes of animal control countermeasures; and animal strike
recording systems. The survey was designed only to document and
explore the responses of airport professionals to the topics. We
made no initial assumptions or hypotheses about these topics or
any causal relationships that might exist among them.We followed
the guidelines and recommendations of American Association for
Public Opinion Research (2008) and Johnson and Owens (2003) for
survey procedures, response rate calculations, and data analysis.
We used an electronic survey website to collect, sort and
summarize survey responses. Both open-format questions, which
required narrative-style answers in point form or sentences, and
closed-format questions, which included dichotomous answers,
multiple choice, free choice, ranked and rated choices were posed.
The survey comprised three sections: the introduction contained
navigational instructions, free and informed consent information,
and definitions of survey terms; the main body contained
questions on specific airport management practices; and the
concluding section asked for referrals to other airport animal
management experts, and contact information if the respondent
wished to be provided with the survey and research project results.
To assess the user-friendliness of the electronic survey website, and
the clarity of instructions and questions, we conducted a survey
pretest.
The air transportation industry commonly uses the word wildlife
in such terms as wildlife strike, wildlife hazard, wildlife control,
and Airport Wildlife Management Plan. However, strikes, near
misses, hazards, control activities and sightings at airports can
involve both wild and domestic birds and mammals, as well as
reptiles and amphibians. Therefore, in our survey we used the term
animal, defined in the survey introduction as any wild or domestic
terrestrial vertebrate. This included birds, mammals, reptiles or
amphibians. We used the term animal strike to refer to both bird
and mammal strikes, and we used the term animal control instead
of wildlife control.