Return to search

Measuring angler attitudes toward the catch-related aspects of recreational fishing

The primary purposes of this dissertation were understanding the nature of an
attitudinal scale designed to measure the consumptive orientation of recreational anglers
and filling a gap in the published literature regarding measurement using the scale.
Consumptive orientation was defined as the attitude anglers hold towards catching fish,
including catching something, retaining fish (as opposed to releasing), catching large
fish (size), and catching large amounts of fish (numbers). In order to confirm these four
attitudes are measured by the scale, a model was hypothesized and tested using a
confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of male anglers in Texas. It was reasoned that
a different subculture may interpret the attitudinal statements differently; thus, the
structure of the scale was explored using women as a separate sample. Finally, an
example of how the scale could be used was provided by examining differences between
tournament and nontournament anglers?? attitudes towards the four constructs measured
by the scale. Overall, results were varied with the hypothesized model used to confirm
the scale. While results indicated dropping four of the sixteen statements would not result in a significant change in the structure of the scale, results also confirmed there
were four distinct attitudes measured by the consumptive orientation scale. The use of
the scale with the larger angling population was confirmed by finding the same structure
using a sample of women anglers. Finally, the scale was shown to be useful for
examining activity-specific differences in angling social worlds. Differences were
detected between tournament and nontournament anglers on three of the four
consumptive attitudes: ??catching numbers,?? ??catching large/trophy fish,?? and ??retaining
fish.?? Differences found were related to the commitment level of tournament and
nontournament anglers. Further analysis examined how avidity may have affected
differences among angler groups. These differences further current knowledge about
tournament anglers and their expectations for fishing experiences. Overall, results
support the usefulness of the consumptive orientation scale as a survey tool for
understanding recreational fishing clientele.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/2652
Date01 November 2005
CreatorsAnderson, David K.
ContributorsDitton, Robert B.
PublisherTexas A&M University
Source SetsTexas A and M University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeBook, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text
Format463101 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital

Page generated in 0.0022 seconds