Assessing wildlife value orientations in China: An exploration of the concepts and methodology

The wildlife value orientation (WVO) construct has been used to describe deeply-held beliefs about how humans should relate to wildlife. As part of a larger effort to test the usefulness of the WVO construct across cultures, we conducted pilot testing of the construct in China. Sixteen mixed-method inter-views were conducted in five cities/towns in China. Participants included individuals from both rural and urban areas with equal numbers of men and women. Interviews employed a 30-to-60-minute series of semi-structured, open-ended questions followed by 45 quantitative questionnaire items. The qualitative data were analyzed using open coding methods. The interrater reliability and inter-method-reliability of the initial conceptualization of WVO dimensions was analyzed, based on which a reconceptualization was developed and used to guide a secondary analysis. The results as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the qualitative and quantitative methods were discussed.