Reviews of each recovery plan involved collecting detailed data
about plan attributes, about biological information presented, and about the recovery goals,
criteria, and tasks defined. To standardize the scope and methodology of reviews,
reviewers used a detailed questionnaire that solicited more than 2500 specific data
about each plan.
Use the links below to download the data-collection Instrument and
its accompanying Key, and to review a list of clarifications regarding how the Instrument
was used and interpreted. Links are also provided to a file that cross-references species
and plan codes with their scientific and common names, and to an auxiliary dataset compiled during
an initial exercise to calibrate data collection by participating university groups.
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Data-collection Instrument The data-collection Instrument
was the original questionnaire used to collect data during review of each recovery plan.
The Instrument was organized as a series of Forms, each of which solicited data on a general topic.
Several Forms were organized as data matrices with rows that defined the specific subject matter
to consider, and columns that solicited specific data about that subject. The Instrument can be
downloaded in portable document format (.PDF).
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Key to the Instrument. The Key to the Instrument is an indispensible
accompaniment to the Instrument. The Key provides detailed instructions on how the Instrument was
to be used. It also defines the response codes used for each question in the Instrument. All
data collected during plan review were recorded as numeric response codes to standardize data
records and to facilitate statistical analyses.
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Clarifications. The Clarifications page addresses a number
of issues that arose during plan review regarding how the Instrument and Key were to be used and
interpreted. These clarifications were made to ensure consistent data collection.
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Species Codes. The Species Codes file lists all of the
species whose recovery plans were reviewed during the SCB study. This file is especially useful
for cross-referencing species codes with their full scientific and common names. The file is
comma-delimited text (.CSV format).
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Data-collection Consistency. To calibrate data collection
by the participating university groups before they started to review their assigned recovery plans,
each university independently used the Instrument and Key to review and collect data on the
recovery plan for one species, Kokia drynarioides. The Consistency page provides links to
the raw Kokia data collected by each university, and to a file in which these data have been
summarized.
For analysis and discussion of data-collection consistency, see:
Hoekstra, J. M., Clark, J. A., Fagan, W. F. and Boersma, P. D. 2002. A comprehensive
review of Endangered Species Act Recovery plans. Ecological Applications 12:630-640.
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