Local governments looking to improve the performance of the services they provide and the quality of life of their residents will often conduct community or citizen surveys. Whether working with an outside firm or administering the survey in-house, it is especially important for Cities and Towns to avoid these ten common mistakes. For more information on community and citizen surveys, visit www.n-r-c.com.

1. Top Ten Common Mistakes to Avoid
When Conducting a Community
Survey
Angelica Wedell
National Research Center, Inc.

2. - Help response rates
- Yield more accurate data
- Allow taking action on results
Fixing These Common Survey Mistakes Can:

3. 1.
Residents are
contacted only
ONCE to take the
survey.

4. 2.
The survey is not
available online.

5. 3.
The survey is not
publicized.

6. 4.
Questions contain
government
jargon, acronyms
and other things
unfamiliar to most
residents.

7. 5.
The survey is too
long and complex.

8. 6.
The pool of
responses do not
reflect the whole
community.

9. 7.
Assuming that
surveys given by
phone interviews
will get the same
results as surveys
taken alone by
mail or web.

10. 8.
Asking questions
you don’t really
want or need the
answers to.

11. 9.
The survey results
are available for
internal eyes only.

12. 10.
There is no vision
for how the results
will be used.

13. 1. Multiple Reminders
2. Survey Online
3. Publicize Survey Before
4. Keep Questions Clear
5. Streamline Questionnaires
6. Randomly Sample, Make Efforts to Hear from Hard-To-Reach Residents.
7. Analyze Accordingly, Regarding Mode of Survey
8. Ask Questions You Need, Not To Prove a Point
9. Publicize Results After
10. Think Ahead, Use Results to Strategize
10 Quick Fixes

14. National Research Center, Inc.
www.n-r-c.com
Thank You!