Local Expert Addresses Council

Concerns About Survey

By John Voket

A Newtown resident who offered the services of his company to conduct an in-depth townwide survey on myriad issues and attitudes has provided some answers to concerns posed to him at the last Legislative Council meeting. The proposed survey will be the only other item up for discussion besides a special appropriation request (see related story) when the council meets July 11, according to Chairman Will Rodgers.

During the June 20 council meeting, Paul Lundquist, a principal with the Harrison Group and Intellisponse of Waterbury, answered questions and previewed some of his ideas on the comprehensive survey he wants to conduct via the Internet and through hard copy distribution at some point in the near future. Mr Lundquist has said he was prompted to offer the survey after attending several meetings, and witnessing fellow residents’ misconceptions about issues including the budget process, motivations of local officials, future plans for Fairfield Hills, and other local activities.

Since the town is in the process of seating a long-term strategic planning committee, Mr Lundquist said results of such a survey could serve the panel well in helping establish its initial direction and agenda. During the June 20 meeting, council member Patricia Llodra said she wanted to endorse the concept, but could not do so until she was completely satisfied the survey’s content and the rendering of collected data would be presented accurately.

Among other reactions, council Vice Chairman Timothy Holian asked Mr Lundquist about how he planned to attract participants to the survey, while fellow councilman Keith Jacobs wondered how Mr Lundquist would protect the integrity of responses while collecting and refining the data.

Upon review of some example questions, it was also revealed that facts being presented in the text of at least two example questions contained inaccurate information. That prompted an agreement between Mr Lundquist and the council to keep ongoing discussions about the proposed survey as a constant agenda item until final endorsement or rejection of the survey is made.

Mr Lundquist also agreed to provide the hard copy draft of his entire survey to the council and several other key local sources to “fact check” the content of questions for accuracy.

On June 26, Mr Lundquist emailed The Newtown Bee with several responses to council concerns. In the note, he said he was very pleased to be working closely with the council to effect the best possible outcomes of the proposed survey.

“It was great to speak with the Legislative Council,” Mr Lundquist said. “I’m glad we’re at a point now where some deeper discussion can take place regarding the survey. I’ve been hoping for this level of discussion all along, and was happy to hear so many questions.”

Mr Lundquist said he would much prefer this cooperative partnership to “flying solo.”

“As I’ve said in the past, while this may be an independent endeavor, we will all benefit from their input,” he said.

In several places throughout the survey, Mr Lundquist said he was interested in presenting some basic facts about certain topics like the high school’s status with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), plans for the high school expansion, the Fairfield Hills Master Plan, and plans for the Newtown Technology Park, among others. “The idea is to measure residents’ awareness of these basic facts, and determine how knowing these things might result in differing opinions and attitudes,” he said. “I know there are vast ranges in opinions on many topics, but typically these differences are the result of incomplete information — few people have the complete facts.”

He said the proposed survey also represents an opportunity to hold up a mirror to learn how respondents feel, and what residents want as a town.

“Because this study is being conducted independently from the town government, I know not every data point will have the potential to create a public mandate, and that’s okay. The nature of this project’s independence also means that we may ask some questions that otherwise wouldn’t be asked by any one group who is involved,” Mr Lundquist said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what we can all learn.”

Responding to Ms Llodra’s and Mr Jacobs’ concerns, Mr Lundquist spoke to ensuring the integrity of the information refining processes.

“Once all surveys are completed, I will weight the data to reflect real-world Newtown demographics like age, employment, income, ethnicity, region of town, and key behaviors like whether respondents are registered to vote, participated in the budget referendum process, have children in public school system, etc. At the end of the day, we can be quite certain that the resulting data will be reflective and representative of all residents of Newtown,” he said.

Mr Lundquist said that concerns about the online aspect of the survey are not justified based on his professional experience.

“An online methodology will cast a far broader net than a typical telephone poll, in that I will be inviting everybody in town to participate,” he said, adding that ideally, more than 1,000 respondents would be preferred, but there is no upper limit or quota for the total number of respondents.

“I will publicize participation through The Newtown Bee through both editorial and print advertising, as well as distribute flyers at public gathering places such as Big Y, the Booth Library and the Senior Center,” he said. “Additionally, in targeting folks who do not have Internet access, I will have paper versions of the questionnaire available at various places around town, which we will publicize for everyone when the time comes.”

He said in publicizing the project, Mr Lundquist hopes to appeal to taxpayers who have not taken the time to be heard in the yearly budget vote.

“I think participation may be simply a matter of awareness and ease of access, and this survey will be very convenient to take,” he said.

The initial concerns Mr Lundquist said he is hearing from most people were about the ability of an online survey to be as random in capturing respondents as a telephone survey.

“This is certainly a reasonable concern for someone who is not involved with research. Telephone polls have been the traditional method of completing research for a long time,” he said. “Now, traditional telephone polling has significant obstacles and biases to overcome that an online method does not.”

Mr Lundquist said everyone is more concerned about their privacy these days, and many take steps to screen or block unknown callers.

Mr Rodgers said he wanted to resolve his concerns about the phrasing of questions, and the impression of a “push-poll” nature of the draft questions he saw.

“Some of the questions seemed to be leading the respondent, which I think could skew the results,” Mr Rodgers said. “But I do look forward to working with Mr Lundquist and I believe the council does too.”