2008 Public Opinion and Citizen Satisfaction Survey
2008 Community Survey Results |
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Complete Survey |
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Residents give City high marks in Community Survey
City of Dublin residents are giving the City of Dublin an almost unanimously high rating as a place to live.
In the City’s biannual Community Survey, 99 percent of residents rated the City as an excellent or good place to live - the highest ranking ever for the survey.
“The City conducts the Community Survey every two years to measure the effectiveness of City programs and services,” said David Ball, Public Information Officer. “Survey results are used to prioritize projects, set goals and budgets, for future planning and to measure the effectiveness of existing programs.
Surveys give us a benchmark to measure changing perceptions in our community.”
As the City has done in the past, surveys were sent to 2,500 Dublin households, evenly divided between Dublin’s four wards. In all, 730 residents responded - about 29 percent, a high return rate for a mail survey.
In addition, the City created an online version of the survey. Postcards were mailed to 1,250 residents, evenly divided among the four wards, asking them to take the survey, too. Of those, 176 households responded, a 14 percent rate of return.
“Our goal with the online survey was to gauge whether its results would be consistent with the traditional mailed version,” said David Ball, Public Information Officer. “If the results were consistent - which they were - it would open the door to doing an online-only survey in the future.”
Nearly 95 percent of residents gave the City excellent or good ratings for staff’s customer service, courtesy and work performance. This was a nearly 5 percent increase from 2006. More than 92 percent gave police the highest ratings, and almost 98 percent of respondents said they feel safe in their neighborhoods after dark.
Among community attributes and amenities, the City’s network of bike paths received the highest rating, closely followed by special events like the Dublin Irish Festival and recreational opportunities.
“It’s important for us to take the pulse of the community so that we are able to measure, by the community’s standard, if the City Council priorities and an Administration’s service delivery are focused on the most effective outcomes for our residents,” said City Manager Jane S. Brautigam. “It’s also encouraging to see that the goals and priorities of Council and the Administration align so closely with those of our residents.”
Residents said their highest priorities are safety, traffic and controlling growth. Their second-highest priority in terms of the City’s budget was new to the list for 2008: Environmental sustainability.
“One of Council’s top priorities is sustainability,” Brautigam said. “This is an important reflection on how residents perceive their community as a leader today and in the future.”
Executive Summary
Overview
The City of Dublin, as part of its ongoing efforts to understand and better serve its residents, performs a biennial Public Opinion and Citizen Satisfaction Research Survey. The goal of the program is to gauge citizen attitudes regarding:
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City services and attributes
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Customer service
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Citizen involvement
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Goals for Dublin
The first Public Opinion and Citizen Satisfaction Research Survey was conducted in 2000, followed by surveys in 2002 , 2004, 2006 and 2008. The information gathered by these surveys provides solid data to measure changing perceptions and for future planning. Our plan is to repeat the survey and reporting process every 24 months.
Methodology
Spearheaded by the City of Dublin Division of Community Relations and conducted by Clary Communications, the information in this report is the result from two survey sources:
• 2,500 randomly selected residents from a database provided by Dublin’s Geographic Information System were mailed hard copies of the survey. Of this, the City received 730 responses by the deadline date, February 18, 2008. That represents a 29% return of completed surveys.
• 1,250 randomly selected residents from a database provided by Dublin’s Geographic Information System were mailed post cards directing them to a Web address where they could respond to the survey electronically. Of this, the City received 176 responses, representing a 14% response rate.
The goal of using two tools was to determine if the responses to the hard copy surveys mirrored those of the online survey. If so, consideration could be given to performing future surveys online, expediting the process, reducing costs and still ensuring accurate and benchmarkable results.
The overall results of the hard copy survey were, in fact, very close to those of the online survey, including demographics.
The data provided in this report represents a compilation of responses from both surveys.
The high rate of response ensures a +/- 5.0 percent sampling error at a 95% confidence level.
This document includes:
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Analysis and observations
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Survey result report
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Listing of unaided responses
Because a different technology was used for the 2008 report than in previous surveys, there may be a slight variation in comparisons to previous years. This does not impact the validity of the responses.
When an asterisk appears, it means the question was not asked in the year indicated.
In the raw data reports called Survey Results, we have noted “don’t know” responses for 2004 and 2006 and included them in our tabulations.
The technology used in 2008 automatically computed data ONLY for those who answered the question, omitting “don’t know” responses. This may slightly affect comparisons to past years.
However, due to the consistency between surveys, we believe the results represent an accurate benchmark measurement.