The Daily Post survey we posted on Tuesday — as an entertainment — included three Public Opinion Questions. This was not a scientific survey. Amateur surveys are a dime a dozen. Scientific surveys are very expensive.
Our survey was hosted (free of charge) on SurveyMonkey.com, one of the most popular survey websites available, and presumably one of the easiest to use. I was first exposed to the use of Survey Monkey by local governments back in 2012, when the City of Salida was using a website survey to promote its agenda of new bike lanes on its main highway.
As of this morning, 38 people had completed the Daily Post survey, spending an average of 1 minute, 6 seconds to answer our three questions.
Question 1: How do you feel, in general, about government expansion in Archuleta County? Please choose the answer closest to your opinion.
Most popular responses:
Our government services are less than they should be, because of inefficient operations or misplaced priorities. No need for higher taxes. (53%)
We need to shrink local government, and cut taxes. (18%)
Indicating that a majority of our volunteer survey participants (71%) are generally opposed to higher taxes.
Question 2: How do you feel about your personal participation in local government decisions?
Most popular responses:
I make my opinions known to local government leaders, and I’m generally ignored. (42%)
My opinion is expressed through the ballot box. (37%)
Question 3: How do you feel, in general, about public opinion surveys?
Most popular responses:
Public opinion surveys are used by governments and organizations to promote their own agendas. (50%)
Public opinion surveys sometimes provide useful information about important topics. (29%)
Clearly, we have a difference of opinions about the value of public opinion surveys, when people are limited to five multiple choice answers.
We could possibly conceive of additional multiple choice answers that could have been provided to our volunteer audience, but which were not — whatever reason — included in our July ‘Public Opinion Survey. For example:
Question 3: How do you feel, in general, about public opinion surveys?
1. People who design and distribute public opinion surveys should be locked up and the key thrown away.
2. Mother told me never to participate in surveys on my first date.
3. Public opinion surveys are part of a socialist conspiracy to destroy America.
For whatever reasons, the Daily Post editor did not include those questions, even though they might have produced entertaining results.
But this morning, I am thinking about the two kinds of surveys that governments and organizations use. One type is used to gather information. The other type is used to promote an agenda. If we are government or corporate employees, we might not realize which type we are creating and distributing, because we never learned about surveys in school.
We might, quite innocently, be abusing the survey process.
I’ve been working with a group of volunteers, for the past two years, trying to understand why we currently have a housing crisis in Archuleta County, when — only a few years ago — Pagosa Springs used to be a quaint and lovely place for working class families to settle. One of the recommendations that came out of our group’s efforts was to hire some experts to study the housing problem and give us some valid numbers to guide us towards some solutions. (Assuming that the community wants to solve the problem, which is an assumption.)
The Town and County cooperated to hire Denver-based Economic and Planning Systems (EPS) to quantify the problem, and as part of their research, EPS did a survey of local employers. They obtained the following opinions, through their survey:
1. 44% of the employers surveyed had the opinion that housing was a year-round issue, rather than a seasonal issue.
2. 90% believed the housing problem is worse than in the recent past.
3. 49% believed the problem was most serious for the retail/hospitality industries.
4. 51% believed that both rental and ownership housing are part of the problem.
EPS also asked other opinion questions of our local employers.
Let’s be honest: this process was basically a waste of taxpayer money. What EPS was asking for, were opinions. Did employers believe the problem was worse than in the past? Did employers believe the problem was worse for the retail/hospitality industry?
This survey process might have made some employers feel special, to be asked their opinions. But the employers were not asked for facts to back up their beliefs. What this survey discovered was the beliefs and opinions of a few people who, quite honestly, may not have spent more than a few minutes considering these complex problems or finding out the facts of the situation.
The survey collected gut feelings.
When our volunteers spent (on average) one minute answering our Daily Post public opinion survey, mentioned above, we hope they found the process amusing. But we did not expect our volunteers to present well-researched, well-documented opinions about the questions we asked. Just the opposite, in fact. We expected our survey volunteers to spend maybe one minute thinking about their answers, based on zero study or research.
Here we have the crux of the problem with public opinion surveys. When we survey the public — and ask their opinions — we are surveying people who might know very little about the subjects we’re asking them about, and who may have given very little thought to the (sometimes complex) issues they are being asked to weigh in on.
So let’s ask the question that really begs to be asked. Do public opinion surveys accomplish anything meaningful, other than making people feel good about being asked?
What’s your opinion, on that question?