Review of "Nebraska Residents' Perceptions of the State's Water Quality” by S. Kay Rockwell, Ann Ziebarth, DeLynn R. Hay, and Shirley M. Niemeyer

Authors

J. Allen Williams Jr., University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

February 1992

Comments

Published in Great Plains Research 2:1 (February 1992), pp. 144-146. Copyright © 1992 The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Used by permission. http://www.unl.edu/plains/publications/GPR/gpr.shtml

Abstract

On the basis of national program initiatives, the Nebraska Cooperative Extension staff identified three high priority needs for the 19905 related to agriculture. These needs are to increase agricultural profitability, conserve and manage natural resources, and enhance water quality. This book focuses on water quality, especially with respect to domestic drinking water.

The investigators obtained 877 completed mailed questionnaires from an original sampling frame of 2,000 households stratified by city size. Forty of the questionnaires were returned as nondeliverable or as "addressee deceased." Thus, from the remaining 1,960 potential households, the response rate was 44.7%. This response rate is adequate, but the findings should be interpreted cautiously since the existence or nature of sampling bias is not clear. Responses are weighted by town size for statewide estimates, but are not weighted by other parameters such as age and sex.