Laserfiche WebLink
User Guide to The National Citizen SurveyT" <br />Next Steps Webinar • At the end of your project, this webinar (scheduled at your convenience for <br />staff and elected officials) summarizes the methods and select findings and helps you identify potential <br />actions — and provides an opportunity to ask questions of NRC researchers. <br />Guide to Understanding and Using Your Reports • The Guide to Understanding and Using Your <br />Reports (this document) is written simply so that the survey sponsors receive guidance about how to <br />understand all aspects of the reports, and also so that sponsors can explain to others how the reports <br />are organized and what they mean. <br />Presentation • An in- person presentation by NRC's independent researchers will offer an engaging <br />overview of the findings — revealing important patterns without getting lost in the detail — at a Council <br />meeting (either formal or work session). The PowerPoint slideshow can be reused for other audiences, <br />including civic clubs, business and non -profit organizations and the press. Presentation by the unbiased <br />survey research team offers the neutrality that is hard to garner when staff themselves present survey <br />findings. <br />Subgroup Comparisons • Both demographic and geographic comparison options are available. Such <br />information can be especially useful as programs are considered for different parts of a community or <br />outreach is planned to educate different community groups. <br />Open -ended Questions • Residents' own words add flavor to the survey results and a quantitative <br />grouping of similarly themed comments gives a sense of common ideas. <br />Report Dissemination <br />Distributing the results and communicating the key findings engages audiences. <br />Audiences and Stakeholders <br />Residents • Make the reports available to the public via your website. Share the results at a public <br />meeting, being sure to advertise the event. A full presentation of the results (either by NRC or your own <br />staff) with discussion of results among elected officials highlights the transparency of findings. If <br />independence of the findings is particularly important in your community, working with NRC to make <br />the presentation of results will be particularly effective. <br />Department Managers and Line Staff • Managers and staff will examine ratings most closely <br />aligned to their work. Make a plan to disseminate results to line staff (e.g., through a series of small <br />group meetings). Staff should be encouraged to identify specific areas where action is suggested — <br />including further research as well as service enhancements or partnerships outside of the organization. <br />These suggestions could be sent to the department heads who will meet to discuss action options with <br />the chief administrative officer. <br />Elected officials • Elected officials benefit most from advance distribution of survey reports prior to <br />public presentation and discussion. Ask elected officials to read the survey documents and funnel <br />questions to staff who then can get assistance with answers from NRC professionals, when needed. Staff <br />should develop an approach to action that can be presented to council. This way staff will be prepared <br />when the inevitable council question is asked of the manager, "What do you plan to do with these <br />results so that they don't just sit on a shelf?" <br />Non - profits and Businesses • While local governments sponsor The NCS, it is not just for staff and <br />elected officials. It is a document to engage the entire community. Many of the findings of the survey <br />will be relevant to the non -profit and business sectors and many community improvements will rest on <br />5 <br />