A quantitative tourism study required two audience groups: Kalamazoo County residents and regional adults who had visited or were aware of Kalamazoo and were open to leisure travel. The Kalamazoo tourism research recruitment plan targeted about 1,000 completes, split evenly between the two groups.
Business Challenge
The study needed a balanced sample despite substantially different incidence levels across its audiences. Incidence was approximately 50–60% among Kalamazoo County residents, compared with 15–20% among regional visitors and aware non-visitors.
The key requirements were to:
Recruit adults aged 18 and above
Target 500 participants through Kalamazoo County resident survey recruitment
Target 500 regional visitors or aware non-visitors who were open to leisure travel
Cover Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota
Structure screening around natural audience fallout
Our Approach
The recruitment design used Phone-to-Web tourism research and CATI to reach both audience groups.
Screening followed natural fallout, allowing eligibility to emerge through the screening process. The recruitment structure accommodated the different incidence levels while retaining the planned 500/500 split between local residents and the regional audience.
This kept audience eligibility and overall sample balance central to visitor and non-visitor survey recruitment, alongside local resident recruitment.
Results
The engagement successfully structured recruitment around natural audience fallout and the differing incidence levels of the two groups.
The resulting tourism survey recruitment design incorporated:
A total target of approximately 1,000 completes
Equal planned representation of local residents and regional visitors or aware non-visitors
Screening based on the specified audience criteria
Recruitment coverage across six states
Impact for the Client
The client received a recruitment structure aligned with both the desired audience balance and the differences in audience availability.
By accommodating the lower incidence among regional visitors and aware non-visitors, the design addressed a practical fieldwork consideration for tourism research across Midwest states.
Planning Tourism Research Across Local and Regional Audiences?
Resident and visitor studies can involve different eligibility rates within the same project. Contact us to discuss Kalamazoo tourism research recruitment, leisure travel audience recruitment and Phone-to-Web or CATI fieldwork for your study.