Option 1: Are dog owners more physically active than non-dog owners?
In this assignment it is required to prepare a complete survey questionnaire with proper samples
from the right population. So, initially it is important to determine the right population for this
survey. The objective of this survey is to determine whether the dog owners are more physically
active than the non-dog owners and if so, is the dog ownership responsible for the higher
physical activity level. To elaborate on this, it is necessary to extract the right population from
the dog owner and the non-dog owners. To narrow this down even more, the individuals who
does a day job is prioritized as it will provide a common ground to the individuals in the mean of
work stress, free time and tiredness to involve in the physical exercises and to spend time with
their pet. The age limit is set as 20-40 year both male and female considering the change in the
physical ability with the aging. Therefore, the sampling frame of this survey will be 20–40-year-
old individuals who works in daytime at a particular urban area. The urban area is selected as it
will be easier to find enough population of the individuals with the matching criteria and also
would provide a common status on the availability of the facilities for physical development and
the dog walking.
More the sample number, more the accuracy of the research. To keep the sample size to at least
100, it is decided to mail the questionnaires to 200 to the individuals. A list of day workers will
be extracted from the department records and it will be crosschecked with the Animal registries
and adoption records to separate the dog owners from the non-dog owners. In this method the
stratified random sampling technic of probability sampling will be used to extract the elements
randomly from the selected 2 groups. The sampling will not be done proportionately to the
stratified population as the survey is focused on the physical activity. Therefore, the equal
numbers of questionnaires (100 for each) will be sent to the selected elements through mail.
It is necessary to keep the questions close ended, interesting, short and clear to increase the
response rate as this will be mail survey. Therefore, the questionnaire will be prepared as shown
below.
1. Do you Own a Dog? Yes No
2. Name (Optional): ……………………………………………………………………….
3. Age: …….
4. Sex: Male Female
5. Address: ……………………….……………………………………….…….…...….…
6. Occupation: …….….……………………………………………………………………