Westminster Open Spaces Noise Study 2008 Final Report

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Westminster Open Spaces NoiseStudy 2008: Final ReportSenseFactorWild animals, e.g. squirrelsWaterfowlPigeonsFlowing WaterDistinct voicesHum of conversationPeopleChildren playing close byMobile phone ringtones and conversationsChurch bells / clock towersFootstepsHelicoptersLow flying aircraftBusesCarsMotorbikesLorriesBoat enginesCyclistsDistinctive vehicle noise, e.g. horns or reversing vehiclesTouchSmellOther factorsPublic announcementsPublic speakersBuskersMilitary personnel / formations / activitiesPolice / other security personnelMaintenance personnelHomeless people asking for changeWind turbinesRailways & TrainsComplete silenceNatural noises e.g. wind rustling treesOther non-natural sounds e.g. workmenBands; live musicGrass/plants/flowers/leavesWaterWindFresh airNewly mown grassFlowersTraffic fumesSmelly rubbish binsCoffee/tea/food outletsDistant activityLarge open spacesBenchesOtherOtherOther2.6 Data Gathering Method2.6.1 It was agreed with WCC officers that the most effective way to investigate tranquillity inspecific spaces was to use a structured questionnaire to carry out in-depth, face-to-faceinvestigations with users. The initial survey questions were designed to ensure respondentswere qualified to take part (i.e. regular park users) and if they were not, then they werescreened out. This screening step was necessary in order to make sure that only the valuejudgements of respondents who chose to visit the open spaces in question, rather thanD121316/R1/026Scott Wilson LtdMarch 2009
Westminster Open Spaces NoiseStudy 2008: Final Reportthose who just happened to be there, were taken into account for the study. This was thenfollowed by questions on user information such as frequency and length of visits. The nextsection investigated each factor of tranquillity using a Likert Scale. An example of this is setout in Table 2 below.Table 2. Example Question from the QuestionnaireFactorTreesStrongDislikeDislike Neutral Like StrongLikeNotApplicable2.6.2 A Likert item is simply a statement which the respondent is asked to evaluate according toany kind of subjective or objective criteria; generally the level of agreement ordisagreement is measured. The Likert Scale is the sum of responses on several Likertitems. A Likert scaling was used because it is a bipolar scaling method, measuring eitherpositive or negative responses. In this way it is possible to understand whether a factorcontributes to tranquillity or detracts from it. Further discussion of this is presented below inthe Analysis and Weighting section.2.6.3 The remainder of the questionnaire was used to establish whether respondents thought theopen space they were using was tranquil and whether there were other more tranquilspaces they preferred. The word ‘tranquil’ was not used until the end of the interview so asnot to unduly influence respondents’ thinking and therefore responses. A full copy of thequestionnaire is presented as Appendix B to this report.2.6.4 Two questions in the interview questionnaire were specifically geared towards qualitativeresponses.“Q. 2 What is it about the space that makes you come back here? if unsure, ask 'Why haveyou come here today?' “Responses to this question, asked at the beginning of the survey, were loosely quantifiedby a ‘tagging’ method. Fieldworkers were instructed to spend up to 3 minutes on thisquestion, drawing respondents out, and marking or ‘tagging’ words or phrases as theyoccurred in the course of the conversation, in the table shown below. This would help toestablish whether the respondent valued the space they were interviewed in due to itstranquil nature, according to our hypothetical understanding of tranquillity. This would also‘validate’ the respondent for the purposes of our study.Relevant and unique comments were also summarised or recorded verbatim, depending onthe case.tranquillity -A place tothink,peaceful,calm, quiet,get away,hide, read,…urbantranquillity -peoplepresent butnotengaging,buzz, busy,watchpeople,alone in acrowdtranquillitylinked tonature -trees, birds,animals,grass,water, skytranquillitylinked tobuildingsvisiblenon-soundrelatedtranquillity– touchnon-soundrelatedtranquillity -spatialsense,scale,distancefrom activitynot usingthe spacefor itstranquillityOTHERTAGSD121316/R1/027Scott Wilson LtdMarch 2009
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