4. Marco de referencia
5.2. Marco investigativo
In addition to the indicators reflecting the latent variables in the model a large set of items was added to get insights in the composition of the sample (i.e. the individual attributes of the respondents).
These additional questionnaire items asked
for respondents´ actual usage of blogs & online forums (items AU-1 ... AU-8),
for respondents´ technical facilities (items DE-1 and DE-2),
Instrument development 88
for respondents´ awareness of the pilot-platform www.wandertipp.at (items DE-3 and DE-4),
for a set of demographic features (items DE-5 ... DE-11, DE-14 and DE-15),
for respondents´ actual leisure-time activities (DE-12 and DE-13),
for respondents´ actual Internet usage during leisure-time (DE-16 and DE-17),
for voluntary personal information (DE18) and
how the respondents learned about the survey (DE-19).
Response to all items except DE18 was mandatory.
Respondents´ actual usage of blogs and online forums AU-1:
‘How often do you read blog-articles about hiking or getaway-possibilities?’
o very rare / almost never o several times per month o several times per week o almost daily
o several times per day AU-2:
‘How often do you leave comments in leisure-blogs?’
o never
o very rare / almost never o several times per month o several times per week o almost daily
o several times per day
Instrument development 89 AU-3:
‘How often do you write blog-articles for example about your hobbies or leisure-time interests?’
o never
o very rare / almost never o several times per month o several times per week o almost daily
AU-4:
‘Do you regularly participate in an online community about hiking and getaway-possibilities? (www.gipfeltreffen.at and www.wandertipp.at are examples for such online communities)’
o yes o no AU-5:
‘How often do you write reports about hiking-tours or getaways that are published on the Internet?’
o never
o very rare / almost never o several times per month o several times per week o almost daily
Instrument development 90 AU-6:
‘Do you have your own homepage or your own blog about hobbies and leisure-time topics?’
o yes o no AU-7:
‘Are you a participant of an online-forum about hobbies or leisure-time topics? (F. e.
www.gipfeltreffen.at is an online-forum. www.wandertipp.at is NO online-forum.)’
o yes o no AU-8:
‘Do you have an own blog?’
o yes o no
Respondents´ technical facilities DE-1:
‘What kind of Internet connection do you use during leisure-time? (Please respond to this question regarding the Internet connection most frequently used during leisure-time.)’
o none
o I don´t know
o a dial-up connection (56k-modem or slower) o a broadband-connection (f. e. ADSL)
o a mobile Internet-connection (GPRS, EDGE or UMTS)
Instrument development 91 DE-2:
‘How old is the computer you use most frequently during leisure-time?’
o I use no computer during leisure-time o older than 5 years
o 4-5 years
o no older than 3 years
Respondents´ awareness of the pilot-platform www.wandertipp.at DE-3:
‘How long ago did you visit www.wandertipp.at the first time?’
o max. 1 week
o longer than 1 week, max. 1 months o longer than 1 months, max. 3 months o longer than 3 months, max. 5 months o longer than 5 months
DE-4:
‘How often do you read at www.wandertipp.at? (This question refers to Internet-pages having wandertipp.at included in the link text.)’
o very rare / almost never o several times per month o several times per week o almost daily
o several times per day
Instrument development 92 A set of demographic features
DE-5:
‘Where do you live?’
o in Austria o in Germany o in Switzerland
o in an EU-country other than Austria, Germany or Switzerland o outside the EU
DE-6:
‘In which Austrian province do you live?’
o Vienna
o Lower Austria o Burgenland o Upper Austria o Styria
o Carinthia o Salzburg o Tyrol o Vorarlberg
o I do not live in Austria DE-7:
‘Your gender?’
o male o female
Instrument development 93 DE-8:
‘How old are you?’
o younger than 18 o 18-29
o 30-44 o 45-65
o older than 65 DE-9:
‘Highest completed education?’
o compulsory school
o vocational school (max. 3 years) o high school
o college or comparable o university or comparable o not stated
DE-10:
‘Your labour situation?’
o employed o self-employed o unemployed o in education o retired o not stated
Instrument development 94 DE-11:
‘Are you a member of a hiking association (f. e. Österreichischer Alpenverein, Naturfreunde, Gebirgsverein)?’
o yes o no DE-14:
‘How many people are in your household?’
o 1 o 2 o 3 o 4
o 5 or more DE-15:
‘With how many people aged 12 years or younger do you live in your household?’
o none o 1 o 2 o 3
o more than 3
Instrument development 95 Frequency of respondents´ leisure-time activities relevant for the study
DE-12:
‘How often do you undertake getaways in spring and early summer? (Please count hiking- and mountain-tours as getaways.)’
o very rare / almost never o every few weeks
o almost every week o several times per week DE-13:
‘How often do you undertake hiking and mountain tours and other getaways with physical exercise outdoors? (You are asked for the frequency of getaways with physical exercise outdoors as their main part.)’
o very rare / almost never o every few weeks
o almost every week o several times per week
Respondents´ actual Internet usage during leisure-time DE-16:
‘How often do you usually use the Internet in your leisure-time?’
o very rare / almost never o up to 1 times per week o several times per week o daily
o several times per day
Instrument development 96 DE-17:
‘How long per day do you use the Internet in your leisure-time?’
o never / almost never o less than 30 minutes o 30 minutes up to 1 hour
o more than 1 hour up to 2 hours o longer than 2 hours up to 3 hours o more than 3 hours
How respondents learned about the survey DE-19:
‘How did you learn about this survey the first time?’
o I read about it on the Internet
o I was informed electronically (f.e. via email, personal message or blog comment)
o friends, acquaintances or relatives contacted me personally
The pilot-platform www.wandertipp.at 97