Questionnaire Research Project
Executive Summary

In July of 2005, Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) commissioned the L.E.M. Research Company to create a survey to determine the level of safety and safety knowledge especially concerning the Ride Right campaign. The purpose of this questionnaire is to form the base of a campaign to improve safety conditions on RAGBRAI, thus minimizing death and serious injury on the ride.

It was determined that the most beneficial form of survey to be conducted for RAGBRAI would be the probability sample type, in specific, the systematic random sample. In this way we can generalize our results to the entire population (as one could not with a non-probability survey) without actually having to spend the time and money to survey the entire population (as one would in a census). The margin of error would be acceptably low – six percentage points.

A question bank was created, to allow for greater flexibility and diversity of choice when creating the questionnaire. There are several topics covered, all relating to RAGBRAI, including 15 awareness questions, 17 attitude questions, 16 behavior questions and six classification criteria questions. These questions are written in nominal, interval, ordinal or ratio form.

The questionnaire is a 25-question survey containing seven awareness questions, four attitude questions, four classification questions, and 10 behavior questions. Topics range from the Ride Right campaign, to the emergency procedures on RAGBRAI XXXIII, to age and location.

Next, a discussion was created, detailing the definitions of nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio levels of measurement, as well as awareness, attitude, classification and behavior questions. Along with each definition, a reasoning behind their selection rate for the questionnaire was included.

Following the discussion, L.E.M. created a recommendation section. Here, they suggested the survey be sent out to 500 RAGBRAI participants by January of 2006, so that results could be tabulated in time to improve RAGBRAI XXXIV.

In conclusion, finally, L.E.M. Research Company has included three bar graphs, emphasizing several main points. The first graph depicts the number of each type of question criteria selected for the questionnaire. The second graph depicts the number of each level of measurement selected to be included in the questionnaire. These two graphs support the reasoning put forth in the discussion section of this report. The third bar graph depicts the number of bicyclists in Iowa, as compared to the average household. This emphasizes the points made in the Background section of this report.

Background

RAGBRAI is an annual bicycle ride, held the last week of July, which spans the state of Iowa. RAGBRAI began as the column idea of Des Moines Register writers Donald Kaul and John Karras. The ride was originally supposed to happen only once. However, it was so immensely popular among its 300 initial participants, it is now in its 33rd year. RAGBRAI was the world’s first cross-state bike ride, and has inspired approximately 200 others worldwide.

Approximately 2,000 riders pedal across the state annually, from the Missouri to the Mississippi river. The tour is approximately 475 miles long, varying with the yearly route. Participants can join teams, among whom it is traditional to sport gaudy outfits, which coordinate to match even gaudier tour support busses.

The mission of RAGBRAI is to host an enjoyable, memorable cross-state bicycle ride. RAGBRAI, although founded by the Des Moines Register, is a not-for-profit organization. All profits go to charities throughout the state, specifically those whose goals include families with children, literacy campaigns, and community enrichment.

The target market of RAGBRAI is essentially that of its parent newspaper, the Des Moines Register. The circulation of which is 152,885 on a daily basis (Bacon, 559). Their readership extends across the state of Iowa, especially concentrated in the Des Moines area.

In Des Moines, households report the lifestyle of “Bicycling Frequently” at an Index of 111, meaning they bicycle frequently at a rate 11 percent higher than the average household in the United States. They also have a rank of 53 for this activity, meaning out of 210 demographic market groups, they participate in bicycling frequently less than 52, and more than 157 of the groups (LMA, 730). A depiction of Des Moines, and other Iowa towns frequency of bicycling compared to the average United States household can be seen in the graph on page 28 of this report.

These same people living in the Midwest spent $8.12 per household on bicycles in 2001. In that same time period, people living in the Midwest also spent $31.98 on “participant sports on trips.” As far as the age of this target audience, the households who spent the most on bicycles in 2001, $16.99 per year, contained at least one person who was 35-44 years of age (HS, 261, 220).





Problem/Opportunity

Over the years, RAGBRAI has become immensely popular, growing many times larger than anyone at the Des Moines Register ever predicted. The problem is, no one knows exactly why.

Are the participants drawn to the scenic Iowa landscape? The welcoming residents populating the overnight and pass-through towns? Or is it something less picturesque, for example the enormous beer gardens and concert stages?

This is a problem indeed, but it is a positive one, and we can guess its causes. However, from it stems a more serious problem. As previously stated, each year, RAGBRAI grows larger. It becomes more and more difficult to accommodate so many people in the confines of a two-lane highway and the tiny towns encountered along the route. Over the 33 years RAGBRAI has crossed the state of Iowa, 25 people have died. Countless more have been seriously injured. Obviously, this trend needs to be minimized at all costs. We need to know what we can do to provide the safest RAGBRAI possible and still maintain our current levels of fun, excitement and enjoyment.



Objectives

First and foremost, to decrease deaths and serious injuries among RAGBRAI riders 100% by the end of July, 2015.

Secondly, to increase our (RAGBRAI official’s) understanding of what RAGBRAI riders enjoy most (and least) 30% by July, 2006.

To do so we aim to fulfill several output objectives:
To conduct a questionnaire survey of 500 RAGBRAI riders by January of 2006.
To conduct 10 focus groups consisting of RAGBRAI riders by January of 2006.
To feature a contest in the Des Moines Register asking readers to write in about their reasons for returning to RAGBRAI during December of 2005.






Methods

There are three ways in which one could go about collecting samples from one’s target market. These include probability-based samples, non-probability based samples, and a census. Below, we examine the positives and negatives of each in regard to a sample of the population of RAGBRAI, and make a recommendation of which type to choose for our particular questionnaire.


Census Sample
A census is a collection of information from all members of a population.

The use of a census would provide results completely accurate to our sample size. The margin of error would be zero. The sample size would be 2,000. However, it is very hard to get 100 percent completion rate in a census, and to do so costs enormous amounts of time and money – well beyond the means of RAGBRAI’s budget. We do not suggest that we use a census to survey our target population.


Non-Probability Based Sample

Non-probability based samples are samples in which the probability of selecting any sampling element is not known. For example, in a type of non-probability sampling known as quota sampling, a key characteristic of the target public is specified, then elements are selected to insure that the sample reflects the distribution of that characteristic in the population. If we were to select our population for our survey using non-probability sampling, we would walk along RAGBRAI asking people to fill out our survey until we reached a certain, predetermined number of participants. For example, ten riders, ten drivers, and ten citizens of the town. There is no way to guarantee the sample accurately represents the population of interest.

This type of sampling is beneficial in that it is quick to complete, convenient, and very inexpensive. However, it is best only used for scanning and detecting potential problems, since it cannot be generalized to a greater audience. It is for this reason that we do not suggest non-probability sampling to survey our target population.


Probability Based Sample

Probability based samples are those which are drawn from a target population in a way that the probability of selecting any particular element is equal and known. The advantage of this type of sampling is that it can use statistical tools to estimate the characteristics of a very large population based on a relatively small population. However probability sampling is more expensive to conduct than non-probability sampling, and if the sample of the target population is too low, data can be inaccurate.

For a target population the size of RAGBRAI’s, 2,000, we would recommend a sample size of 500 people. It is at this point that the levels of margin of error flatten, and adding more people to the sample would begin to be redundant. If one were to ask a question with this number of people and desire a 50 percent survey outcome percentage (50 percent of respondents answer in a particular way), the margin of error would be +/- 3 percentage points.

This type of sampling is the type that we recommend be used for our target population. In specific, we recommend using a systematic random sample. To use this type of sampling, we will draw up our list, i.e.: registered RAGBRAI riders in 2005. We will then select a number at random, x. We will count to the xth name on our list, and select it to do our survey. We will from there count another x names, and select another name to add to our survey pool. This process will be repeated until we reach our recommended 500 participants.