Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 35(3): May 2009 characterize peoples’ knowledge of and feelings about utility pruning (Kuhns and Reiter 2007), but it also dealt with their tree care knowledge and topping knowledge and practices. In each city, 350 randomly selected households were mailed a self-administered questionnaire with an introductory let- ter and a nine-page survey booklet. The cover letter requested the survey be filled out by the adult, 18 years or older, in the household who most recently had a birthday. The survey book- let contained three sections covering tree care practices and is- sues (including topping), utility pruning, and background and demographic information, including gender, education, income (recoded to categories), home ownership status, and years at their present address. The utility pruning material was covered in Kuhns and Reiter (2007) and will not be dealt with here. Half of the households in each city also were sent a simple brochure titled “Trees and Powerlines” that described what topping looks like and why it should no longer be performed on trees under power lines (Kuhns 1995). If a recipient received the educa- tional brochure they were asked to read it before completing the questionnaire; otherwise the questionnaires were identical. The questionnaire assessed tree care knowledge by present- ing seven statements and asking respondents to indicate Agree or Disagree then recoding the answers as correct or incorrect (or did not know). This was meant to assess participant know- ledge while avoiding the feeling of taking a test, similar to the technique used by Fazio and Krumpe (1999). The statements were as follows (the answer judged as correct is in parentheses): 1. Fertilization usually is needed to keep trees healthy (disagree). 2. Trees should be planted deeper than they were grown in the nursery (disagree). 3. Root ball packing materials should be removed when trees from a store or nursery are transplanted (agree). 4. Tree roots need oxygen to survive (agree). 5. Fertilizing trees feeds them (disagree). 6. Most tree roots are fairly shallow (agree). 7. Trees that normally grow large can be kept smaller by pruning without harming them (disagree). The survey asked respondents to rate their knowledge of ur- ban trees and the care of said trees, and to rate the importance to them of urban trees, on five-point Likert scales from very low to very high, and to indicate the number of tree-care related semi- nars, classes, or workshops they had attended as an adult. The survey also asked respondents to indicate their sources for ur- ban tree-related information and education by selecting from a list (they could also indicate that no assistance was needed), and to indicate their trust in each source on a four-point scale (1 = No Trust, 2 = Low Trust, 3 = Moderate Trust, 4 = Full Trust). To assess topping knowledge and attitudes, topping was first defined in a fairly nonnegative way as “the practice of rounding over or cutting back a tree’s crown, usually to keep it smaller than it would normally grow,” and showed three photographs of mod- erately to severely topped trees. The survey then presented eight statements and asked respondents to indicate Agree, Disagree, or Do Not Know; responses with the correct answer were based on the author’s judgment of what would likely be chosen by profes- sional arborists. For all statements, our judgment of what was 123 correct was not revealed to the respondents. Note that two of the statements arguably had no correct answer. These statements were as follows (the answer judged as correct is in parentheses): 1. Topping benefits a tree by letting in more light (disagree). 2. Topping decreases tree health (agree). 3. Fast growth after topping is a sign of good tree health (disagree). 4. Topping improves a tree’s appearance (opinion; no correct answer). 5. Topping makes a tree more likely to become a hazard in the long-run and hurt someone or damage their property (agree). 6. Topping is a good way to help prevent insect or disease problems (disagree). 7. Topping is destructive and should not be done (opinion; no correct answer). 8. Wounds on topped branches are easily healed or sealed over by new growth (disagree). Topping practice was assessed first by asking respon- dents to indicate whether they had ever topped a tree or had someone top for them (Yes; No). Then they were asked to in- dicate who topped for them and why (lists of possibilities were supplied, or they could check Other and indicate). Fi- nally, respondents rated their satisfaction with the topping re- sults on a five-point Likert scale from very low to very high. Surveys were mailed in early 2004, including an initial mailing with a cover letter and self-addressed stamped return envelope, mailing of a reminder postcard, and a second full mailing to those who had not returned the survey (Dillman 2000). Of the 2100 questionnaires mailed, 1786 were delivered and 384 returned for a 21.5% overall response rate. Ten percent of the nonrespon- dents were phoned and asked a sample of the survey questions, including several of the demographic questions, to character- ize differences between respondents and nonrespondents. Re- sponse rates for individual questions/statements ranged from 96%–100% except for income, which was answered by 72% of respondents. Data compilation and statistical analysis was done using SPSS software. χ2 was used to determine significance of association between nominal or ordinal variables and t-tests were used to determine mean significant differences, with α = 0.05. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Response Rate and Nonrespondent Characteristics Because of the fairly low response rate (21.5%), survey authors phoned 10% of nonrespondents in each city (141 total) to see how they differed from respondents. Respondents in comparison to nonrespondents were significantly older (mean age 54 versus 50 years; t = 2.395; P = 0.017), more likely to be male (57% male versus 38%; χ2 = 11.573; P < 0.001), and had spent more time in their present home (15 versus 12 years; t = 2.690; P = 0.008). They did not significantly differ in educational attainment (χ2 = 8.776; P = 0.118), income (χ2 = 1.980; P = 0.577), or home rental/ownership status (χ2 = 1.825; P = 0.177). Respondents also did not significantly differ from nonrespondents in their ©2009 International Society of Arboriculture
May 2009
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