%0 Journal Article
%T Exploring Social Desirability Bias in Perceptions of Dog Adoption: All¡¯s Well that Ends Well? Or Does the Method of Adoption Matter?
%A Candace Croney
%A Nicole Olynk Widmar
%J Archive of "Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI".
%D 2018
%R 10.3390/ani8090154
%X Dog adoption is often cited as an ethical and popular method of acquisition but interpretation of the term ¡®adoption¡¯ may vary. In a nationally representative survey of the U.S., 767 respondents were asked questions regarding their opinions of dog acquisition including adoption. Within the sample, 45% had a dog; of those, 40% had adopted a dog and 47% visited a veterinarian once a year. Respondents¡¯ preferences for the most ethical method of dog adoption were elicited using a survey instrument. Our results indicate that respondents had the largest preference share for adoption from a municipal animal shelter¡¯ (56%) and the smallest preference share for adoption from a pet store (3%). Dog acquisition was further evaluated by creating an index of social desirability bias comparing how important respondents believed certain dog characteristics were and how important respondents believed others would rate/rank the same dog characteristics. The highest incidences of social desirability bias occurred for the dog characteristics of appearance and breed
%K best-worst scaling
%K dog acquisition
%K dog adoption
%K social desirability bias
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6162534/