improving survey design through community group input

Conducted on behalf of:

Conducted by:

In Association With:PTV DataSource

GeoStatsPB

Chandra BhatMark Bradley

Mary Kay ChristopherKeith Lawton

Improving Survey Design Through

Community Group Input

11th TRB National Transportation Planning Applications Conference

May 7, 2007


Conducted by:


GeoStatsPB



Overview of Presentation

HH Travel Inventory

Regional Demographics

Survey Participation Issues Methods to Increase Participation

Public Outreach

Pilot Survey

Implementation for Full Study


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HH Travel Inventory

HH Travel Survey 11,000 HH Eight county Chicago region 24 and 48 hour assignments Travel logs Sponsored by Chicago Metropolitan Agency for

Planning (CMAP)• Union of Northeastern Illinois Planning

Commission (NIPC) and Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS)

Pilot Survey – September 2006 to October 2006 Full Study – January 2007 to January 2008


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Demographics of Survey Region

Race 8,184,000 residents

• 66% Caucasian

• 19% African American

• 15% Other

17% self identify as Hispanic


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McHenry Lake

Kane

Cook

DuPage

Will

Kendall

Grundy


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African

American

Density


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Latino

Density


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Immigration Immigration gateway for 150 years For first time, suburbs now have more

immigrants than the City of Chicago

• 92% increase in immigrant population from 1990 to 2000

Immigrant acculturation

• 75% of all immigrants speak English well or very well

• 69% of Spanish speaking persons speak English well or very well


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Demographics of the Survey Region

Mode to Work 81% of workers drive alone or carpool to work 16% of workers use alternative modes: public

transit, bicycle, or walk

Chicago ranks second to New York in use of alternative modes


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Survey Participation

Why doesn’t everyone participate? Apathy Language barrier

• Foreign language and illiterate Fear

• Apprehension about giving out personal information

• Fear of government (immigrants) Populations that are traditionally difficult to

recruit • Transit users


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Outreach

Meetings Four community meetings held in August

of 2006 in Chicago region Goals of the effort were to . . .

• Educate the public about survey effort,

• Garner public support, and

• Identify improvements to minimize non-response among special population groups


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Outreach

Meeting

Date

Meeting

Venue

Meeting

Time

Audience Attendees

23-Aug-06 Bickerdike Redevelopment

Corp.

8-10AM Spanish Speaking Latinos

11

23-Aug-06 Southwest Youth

Collaborative

6-8PM Youth 31

24-Aug-06 Trinity United Church

8-10AM African Americans 13

24-Aug-06 Family Focus 6-8PM English Speaking Latinos

15


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Outreach

Meeting format and content Introduction of facilitators Brief introduction Presentation summarizing survey effort Round table discussion regarding group

specific reaction to a number of survey related topics

• Including a review of materials

Thanks and provide incentive

Food provided


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Outreach

What were the outcomes? While there were a few “core issues” voiced

by all groups, each meeting revealed group-specific issues that need be considered to maximize participation among all demographic sectors


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Outreach

Latinos Complete confidentiality and anonymity

• Materials need to identify this quickly and clearly

Identify connection between survey participation and community well being

To combat low participation, conduct “community survey days”


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Outreach

African Americans Key to survey success is survey

endorsement by civic leaders and organizations

Survey materials need to highlight lack of AA participation in last survey effort

• “This is YOUR chance to make sure this does not happen again.”


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Outreach

Youth Lack of personal vehicle (or limited access)

exaggerates the effect of many transportation issues on youth

Key to success is to clearly explain how the planning process works and how data being collected today will result in improved transportation infrastructure in the future


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Outreach

Recommendations Community Survey Days

• Must weigh pros (more data, increased PR, etc) vs. cons (affects on “random selection”, high costs associated with conducting meetings)

Targeted mailings Use of a “hook” to grab attention

• “You have been invited to participate . . .”

• “Your community needs you to participate . . .”

• “You have been selected to represent your community . . .”


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Pilot Survey

Pilot survey conducted in September and October of 2006, prior to implementation of community meeting findings

African Americans and Hispanics under represented


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Pilot Survey

Demographic Survey Census Δ

White Only 96% 73% +23%

African American

3% 11% -8%

Hispanic 1% 17% -16%


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Full Study

Recruitment for full study began in January of 2007 and will continue throughout the entire year

Demographic Recruitment Retrieval Census

White Only 81% 86% 66%

African American 9% 6% 19%

Hispanic 5% 3% 17%


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Full Study

Phased Implementation of Community Group Meeting Findings Phase I (currently ongoing)

• Cash incentives $5 or $10 per HH member

• Quotes from prominent civic leaders supporting the survey effort Insertion into brochure

• Targeted Mailings to Census tracts with high proportions of African Americans and Hispanics

• Snowball Sampling

• Tailored Interviewing


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Full Study

Phase II (as needed) Community Meetings Advertising

• Newspaper

• Radio

• College list serves


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THANK YOU!

Questions or Comments?

Chris Simek, NuStats

[email protected]

Mary Kay Christopher, MKC Associates [email protected]

improving survey design through community group input

Documents

survey design

survey regionmode

chicago regiongoals

public transit

groupspecific issues

chicago metropolitan

group specific reaction

immigrant population