Participants needed - Pet rabbit online survey

[welcht]

Hello everyone,

My name is Tasha Welch and I am conducting a study on rabbit ownership as a part of my Masters degree at Guelph University.

I heard this was a fantastic place for all rabbit related things so I was hoping I could post here to help spread the word for my study.

Anyone who currently owns a rabbit or has owned one in the past can participate. The survey is anonymous and takes about 30 minutes. In appreciation for participation you can enter your name and email into a prize draw for $50.

To complete the survey, please go to: www.petrabbitsurvey.com

If you know anyone else who may be interested, please pass the link along. You can post on Facebook, websites, other forums. Anything would be fantastic to help spread the word for this study.

Thanks so much!
Tasha Welch

 

[lovelops]

Well I went ahead and took the survey!

Vanessa

 

[Tammy B]

Interesting survey

 

[welcht]

Thanks!! I appreciate it!

 

[MikeScone]

I took the survey.

One comment - you ask about the weight of a "mini lop". That term means two different kinds of rabbits, depending on whether you're using US or British terminology (a US "mini-lop" is a British "dwarf lop", a British "mini-lop" is a US "holland lop"). See http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f29/key-lop-ears-77894/

I'm not sure what you meant, since you're Canadian - do you follow US or British terminology?

 

[ZoeStevens]

I just filled it out!

Just one comment, you ask why the participant acquired his/her first rabbit. I would recommend putting in an "other" field - I got my first guy for his fur (Angora). Which I suppose is an obscure reason but I can't be the only one .

 

[ladysown]

your survey does not leave room for "other" comments.

aka.. rabbits that became pets after they fulfilled their breeding/show careers. Rabbits that became favourites and then became pets.

 

[ladysown]

time out of cage isn't specified as per day/week etc.

 

[ladysown]

the true/false questions leave questions to be answered.
Aka.. child have full responsibility.. depends ENTIRELY on that child. some children yes, other children no.
some males rabbits spray, other male rabbits don't. so you simply can't answer all those questions definitively.
same with the soliltary rabbits... some rabbits LIKE to be alone, others like companionship. All depends on the rabbit.

age of rabbit at maturity should be defined better.. age in months.

your survey is have house rabbit society focused in it's answers and leads one to wonder what you are trying to accomplish with your survey. There are a mirade of ways to properly care for a rabbit...but you are not allowing room for those explanations to be given.

 

[ZoeStevens]

I actually liked the black/white nature of some of the questions. It "forces" the participant to take a stand and provide a solid opinion rather than waffle around in the grey zone. You can't really compile data if all answers are in comment form (for example - imagine trying to come to a conclusion on whether rabbit owners think rabbits are good pets for kids if everyone responds "maybe, depends on the kid, some yes some no".)

 

[welcht]

Thanks everyone for the comments and for taking time to do the survey! The survey went through an extensive editing process and we did our best to try to accommodate as many responses as possible.

Thanks again!
Tasha

 

[Chrisdoc]

I did the survey and found some of the questions difficult as I was in the middle and needed to add a comment. However, I can understand that for reasons of data collection, the answers have to be precise. Very interesting and anything that adds to investigation or awareness is OK by me.

 

[Azerane]

I completed it last night, was pretty good.

 

[Aubrisita]

Done.

 

[Imbrium]

Regarding this multiple choice question:

When rabbits thump their back legs, this means that they feel:
Happy
Tired
Threatened
Content

I feet like none of the answer choices were adequate in regards to domesticated rabbits. I put "threatened" because that's the primary emotion associated with thumping in wild rabbits... though I was actually torn between "threatened" and "happy" because my rabbits pretty much never feel threatened and I've actually had them thump out of happiness now and then ("OMG, veggies! Squee!" *THUMP* "You're taking too long to give me those veggies!" *THUMP*). Honestly, though, the #1 reason (by a ridiculously large margin) that indoor pet rabbits thump is to express annoyance (ie they don't like something that you're doing or that's happening in their surroundings and are trying to say "Knock that off!!").

If I could've given a write-in answer but had to limit it to a single reason, I would say "to express strong emotions of any sort" - domesticated rabbits use thumping to communicate a myriad of thoughts and emotions.