PRECA 11-06-1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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New Brighton Citizen Survey Page #2 -Ease of administration, so that volunteers could administer it; -Re-administration in future years; -Ease of data analysis (i.e., few open-ended questions; key-punch directly from the form); -Wigh participation rate (i.e., of reasonable length; exclusion of personal questions). The survey was piloted to determine its length and ease of adminis- tration and subsequently revised so that it took approximately fifteen minutes for completion. (The New Brighton Citizen Study Committee participated in this exercise as well as in the refinement of questions.) The survey is in Appendix A. For ease of administration, the respondent was provided with cards describing alternatives for some questions. ADMINISTRATION OF THE SURVEY Approximately two weeks before the survey was to begin, a letter was sent to each address of the sample to be surveyed, including alternates. The letter is contained in Appendix B. The survey was administered by volunteers from the New Brighton Citizen Study Committee, the League of Yd omen Voters, and the New Brighton Jaycees. Training sessions were held on three evenings, during which time the consultant conducted role playing sessions and re- viewed instructions which were prepared for the volunteers (see Appendix C). The survey was conducted during a three week period in late May and early June. RESPONSE RATES/RESPONSE BIASES Of 349 possible surveys, 267 were completed, for a return rate of 77%. Those who are not home owners were under-represented, including apartment dwellers, mobile home dwellers, and senior citizen complex residents: 6Jhereas 3Q% of those listed on the water billings were apartment dwellers, only 31% of the total respondents were apartment dwellers. Although exact figures are not available, surveys were completed by approximately 85% of the sample who were listed on water billings as residing in houses, compared to 65% of the sample who live in apartments, and 60% who reside in senior citizen complexes or mobile homes. The lower response rate for apartment dwellers is to be expected both because access is more difficult due to security systems and because _t he interest in a survey regarding the City services would .be lower in any population which is more likely to be new to the City or expecting to relocate. ht is not known to what extent the survey respondents are representative of the City of New Brighton population with respect to such character- istics as age or the presence of children. It is recommended that census data be compared to the respondent demographics in an effort to determine the representativeness of the sample.