Agenda - Council Work Session - 03/11/2014

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Comparison of Survey Administration Methods Criterion Phone Mail Personal Interview Web Survey Expense Moderately expensive Less expensive Most expensive Least expensive Speed of Administration Fastest Moderate Slowest Fastest Providing a High Response Rate Lowest Moderate Highest Lowest Obtaining Candid Responses Moderate Best Worst Best Eliminating Interviewer Bias Moderate Best Worst Best Getting at In -Depth Topics Moderate Moderate Best Moderate Permitting the Use of Visual Aids Worst Better Best Moderate Enforcing Question Order Best Worst Best Worst Including Respondents of Lower Socio- economic Status Moderate Worst Moderate Worst Accessing Respondents from Specific Geographic Locations Worst Best Best Worst phone will give artificially more positive opinions and second, residents with listed numbers will tend to be the more trusting, less suspicious members of the community whose evaluations of local government services may be uncharacteristic of the community as a whole. These well- intended survey research methods, taken together, undermine the validity and credibility of your results. Do settle on phone If.. • Your primary audiences — especially elected officials who are used to receiving polling data by phone - expect or trust phone surveys most. • Your target population has a high rate of illiteracy in English or a different native language. • You must have results quickly. • You must control question order so that later questions don't influence answers to earlier questions. For example, you must first ask respondents which issues most affect their quality of life before you begin to probe about one issue in depth (like air quality or transportation) or else the many questions about the single issue could influence which quality of life issue respondents choose. © National Research Center, Inc. 2955 Valmont Rd, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80301 www.n -r -c.com 303 - 444 -7863