Surveying Citizens: A Handbook for Municipal Officials Who Want to Know What Their Citizens Think

This handbook describes the process getting valid and reliable information from a citizen survey. It's intended for readers who don't have a substantial background in survey research or statistics. The basic premise is simple: Do it right or don't bother to do it at all. The necessary steps to "do it right" allow for few shortcuts in planning, designing and implementing a high-quality citizen survey or in analyzing responses. Following the procedures and suggestions described here should yield questions that are valid (measures what you want to measure), reliable (consistent), and useful (results that relate to the survey objectives.

The MTAS publications provided on Trace are archival documents intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as authoritative. The content contained in these publications may be outdated, and the laws referenced therein may have changed or may not be applicable to your city or circumstances.

For current information, please visit: http://www.mtas.tennessee.edu.