How Do You Rate the Happiness of the Animals with Their Environment?

A) Using the 18 determinants of service quality, devise your own questionnaire for the zoo. Compare your questionnaire to the one actually used.

A questionnaire may have many problems relating to the question construction and the wording that exist such as the following:

• 5. How do you rate the happiness of the animals with their environment?

The quality of this question is poor for the reason that it does not ask for an answer on only one dimension. The purpose of a survey is to find out information. A question that asks for a response on more than one dimension will not provide the information that is seeking for.

Happiness can be defined as a subjective state of wellbeing that includes emotional security, and physical satisfaction. It is variously manifested in animals’ playfulness, friendliness, and displays of affection and trust toward their care-givers.

But no matter how good the quality of care may be, an animal’s happiness and wellbeing can be undermined by a lack of adequate socialization or impaired bonding with their own kind and/or with humans during their formative early weeks of life. Genetic factors can also play a beneficial or detrimental role, as when hereditary factors associated with fear of strangers, (especially in captive wild animals, and domestic animals who are innately more fearful than normal), or associated with an outgoing, curious and stable temperament, mean that some animals live in fear, while others enjoy a happier existence. With both fearful domesticated animals and captive wildlife, much can be done to improve their quality of life through sensitive handling and provision of a secure and comfortable environment, ideally with the supportive companionship of other animals that are easy going and emotionally stable.

• 8.

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