A perspective of snowmobile owners in the province of Alberta

Vita.The study problem was to investigate whether significant differences in characteristics, opinions, and use patterns, existed among Alberta snowmobile owners from three designated regions. A survey of snowmobile owners was conducted in January, 1976 in cooperation with Alberta Department of Recreation, Parks and Wildlife. A self-administered mail questionnaire was designed to collect data concerning: (1) socio-economic characteristics; (2) snowmobiling characteristics relating to registration, outings, primary user vs. owner, owner vacations, source of influence to purchase machines, and club memberships; (3) 1973/74 and 1974/75 use patterns, relating to residence, use areas, time of use, land ownership, travel, used and preferred services and facilities, and snowmobile uses; (4) opinions concerning existing regulations; and (5) non-snowmobile recreation activity participation before and after purchase of a snowmobile. The population studied was persons who owned snowmobiles throughout the period September 1, 1973 to the end of the 1975 snowmobile season. The questionnaire was mailed to a systematic sampling of 1858 individuals (10.0 percent of the population), drawn from snowmobile distributor warranties and Alberta Transportation registration files. Two mailings produced 744 usable questionnaires representing a 52.6 percent response. Telephone interviews of a 20 percent sampling of non-respondents were conducted, and it was determined that non-respondents did not differ from respondents.