Online Survey Project

On Tuesday, the public opinion survey results were released by the Wenatchee research firm hired by East Wenatchee and Douglas County. The survey project's goal was to gauge community opinion concerning the development of the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail in East Wenatchee, Washington.

According to the survey findings that were released 55% of survey respondents opposed any development along the trail and 15% favored some development, including waterfront shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the community attitude survey findings are being questioned. They think those who support some development may have been under represented in the survey sample.

The quantitative market research method used for data collection included both paper surveys and online surveys hosed on the More Than a Trail website. The website survey collected survey responses from respondents willing to identify themselves, it was not an anonymous survey. All parties involved in the survey project, according to The Wenatchee World article, agree even though the survey results are not significant there were a huge number of survey respondents. How many is a huge number of survey respondents? 1,249.

Here's how those involved view the survey: like a public hearing. You can only do so much to encourage participation, and 1,249 responses exceeds local government standards. With a public hearing, typically the decision makers only hear from the people who have objections the others don't show up, so they don't get heard. This survey allowed everyone a chance to "show up." The public opinion survey was well promoted with data collection techniques that included publicizing the quantitative research survey on local radio station, newspapers, association chapters, employee newsletters and signs were posted along the trial.

I really like that East Wenatchee is turning to online survey methods as well as paper questionnaires to get an understanding of public and community opinion for issues that will affect, well the community. Their analogy of an online survey being like a public hearing is a pretty good one. But I see where there could be concern about the overall results of their survey questionnaire. It does seem unlikely that 55% of any survey sample or population would be completely against anything - not have various degrees of how much development is too much.

My first reaction would be to look to the fact the website survey was not anonymous. While I understand it's hard to guard against "ballot stuffing" with a website survey online, the fact that it was not anonymous could have deterred people from responding. Why? Well, if they felt their opinion differed from the majority they may have declined to take the survey in case responses were traced back to them. On the same note, survey respondents may have felt social pressures to respond in a certain way. It's a tough call. When you're deciding on your quantitative methods to collect feedback, you need to weight the pros and cons of available survey methodologies and go with what you believe will result in the best, unbiased results.