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[clarki]

I just completed the Province of British Columbia (B.C.) and Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) internet Socio-Economic Analysis (iSEA) Freshwater Recreational Fishing Survey (for the 2023-2024 fishing season)

My goodness that was a laborious/tedious process! I keep a fishing journal but adding up, then recording, the number of days, species and locations was a chore. If I didn't keep a journal, my responses (read "wild arse guesses") would be woefully inaccurate.

I understand and support the reasons behind the survey and that's why tried to be as diligent and accurate as I could, but I question the validity/reliability of the results when most anglers are going from memory.

I'm not a statistician, but there must be a better way of doing it than asking anglers to remember and report that level of detail over an entire year period.

[RalphH]

not too many years back some Sport Fishing groups privately funded a similar study ( Lead by the Sport Fishing Institute of BC IIRC) which later claimed recreational angling generated something like a billion dollars of economic activity in the subject year. Others asserted this was likely exaggerated if not down right nonsense. I think your reaction demonstrates why.   My wife who fished for a few hours 1 day on a trip we took together last year got tagged in this study. Some of the questions relate to spending by the entire household. Do you think I can remember how much I spent on tackle, fly trying stuff and lures? It was a wild guess at best. Still I don't know if there is a better way to do it.

[Birdbrain]

I found it a chore too, and I only had two fishing days to report.  I don't keep a journal, only a few comments on my wall calendars, which I keep for a few years.  I made a lot of guesses on expenses, time spent fishing each day, etc.  I also made a mistake on what species I targetted on one day.  Once you go to the next page, the survey doesn't let you correct mistakes.
In fine print at the bottom of the pages, it said to make corrections, to email them.  With the amount of time I'd already spent on that survey, I wasn't about to get into an email conversation, so I just left the mistakes in.  I hated to do that, since I'm normally a careful person, but I was annoyed at the way the survey was written.

What would it have taken the author of that survey to add an edit function, like every other online form I've ever filled out?  Clicking the back button allows you to change an answer, but that correction doesn't show up on later pages.  There could just be a review-edit page at the end.  Somebody really dropped the ball on this one.

[Birdbrain]

It was worthwhile to email them. They replied to my email right away, and will correct my mistakes, and also forward my concern about not being able to edit my answers to the survey developer.

[DanL]

My goodness that was a laborious/tedious process! I keep a fishing journal but adding up, then recording, the number of days, species and locations was a chore. If I didn't keep a journal, my responses (read "wild arse guesses") would be woefully inaccurate.

I got it too, and only made a few screens in before I bailed and set it aside for another time. From the other responses it sounds like it might be a PITA to do properly

I'm not a statistician, but there must be a better way of doing it than asking anglers to remember and report that level of detail over an entire year period.

Maybe for the future, they could notify selected licenses in advance at the time of purchase. Then a monthly email reminder to fill it out for the previous month while it's still fresh?

Yes, being able to edit responses would be useful. Perhaps something they could implement in the future.

[clarki]

Maybe for the future, they could notify selected licenses in advance at the time of purchase. Then a monthly email reminder to fill it out for the previous month while it's still fresh?

Yeah, DFO's Internet Recreational Effort and Catch (iREC) survey assigns you a calendar month to complete for: May for me this year.

Perhaps ISEA might get higher participation/larger sample size and more accurate data if the survey was for a month, not a year, and not so onerous to complete.

Then again, I'm sure smart people designed the ISEA survey, and my statistics expertise is limited to an undergrad class or two!

[santefe]

Maybe the survey is designed to elicit a certain reply to get a desired response.

[RalphH]

Maybe the survey is designed to elicit a certain reply to get a desired response.

I don't think so though sometimes surveys elicit a response that was not intended. In this case that response may be: "I don't remember".

[Bavarian Raven]

I seem to get the survey every year.