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Title: Technical evaluation of available state of Nevada survey instruments

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/138726· OSTI ID:138726

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is reviewing the survey research studies completed by Mountain West Research (1987-1989) for the state of Nevada`s Nuclear Waste Project Office. In this research, 14 survey instruments were used to seek data on whether perceptions of risk could be associated with the possible siting of a high-level radioactive waste repository in Nevada and could be a dominant source of potential, significant, adverse economic impacts. This report presents results from phase 1 of the review, in which ANL contracted with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago to evaluate the technical merits of the nine survey instruments that ANL had been able to acquire. The scope of NORC`s work was limited to rating the questions and stating their strengths and weaknesses. NORC concluded that the surveys could provide valuable data about risk perceptions and potential behavioral responses. NORC identified a few minor problems with a number of questions and the calculated response rates but claimed these problems would probably not have any major biasing effect. The NORC evaluation would have been more complete if the terms used in the questionnaires had been defined, all survey instruments had been acquired, and all data had been made available to the public.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Environmental Assessment and Information Sciences Div.
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
138726
Report Number(s):
ANL/EAIS/TM-93; ON: DE93012873; TRN: 93:010635
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Feb 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English