[sustran] World Citizen City Mobility Audit - Memo 2 on methodology

[eric.britton]

[This collaborative project-in-process is being discussed in the "Idea
Factory" of the New Mobility Agenda. Again the website is
http://www.newmobility.org/, and to post your contribution:
NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com.This second note from here on this proposal
is intended to generate your comments and suggestions]

 

This thinking exercise today is in three parts. First (A) we offer you a
first draft of the short introductory statement that the interviewer will
wish to make to orient the interviewee. Then (B) we move on to some thoughts
about how we should best identify the respondents. And finally (C) we look a
bit closer at the Three Questions which are at the core of this
mini-inquiry. The following follows on from yesterday's introductory note on
proposed open collaborative project.

 

A. Introductory remarks:  

Some possible wording to help you frame your introduction to the people you
approach (again draft for your improvement):

 

*	Hi. We are carrying out an informal survey here in which we are
tying to find out what a cross-section of citizens here think about our
city's transportation arrangements. A kind of "how are we doing"? survey
aimed at hearing from men and women, people of different ages and physical
condition, different economic groups, etc.
*	We realize that no city is perfect, but we also know that some
cities are doing better than others. And our goal here is to see if we can
see how our deity stacks up with others.
*	I should mention that we are trying to get a balanced, neutral
assessment, which is why we are trying to talk to different kinds of people
with different situations and we can be sure different opinions about how
the city is doing. 
*	Our hope is that this will get the attention of policy makers both
here in the city and in higher levels of government, and the media and
various citizen groups,  to see if we can help them focus their minds on
problems and eventual solutions.
*	Thanks for agreeing to take ten minutes to share your thoughts with
us on this, and before we turn to the questions I'd like to ask you a couple
of  questions that will help us to understand where you and the others we
are talking to are coming from on all this.

 

B.        Identifying respondents by key categories:

 

Here are ten things that I propose it would be useful to know about each of
those who agree to respond to our quick 10x3/3 on street survey. 

 

Note: The goal of the entire process, the questions and this identification
information (which is needed for the analysis) is to wrap it up within ten
minutes for each interview. (The first two items can be jotted down by the
interviewer as best guesses.)

 

1. Sex:  M/F

2. Age Group: (rough is just fine)

*         25. 

*         25-50/60.  

*         Over 50/60. 

3. Economic Status:

*         Employed. 

*         Unemployed. 

*         Student. 

*         Retired. 

*         Other (?)

4. City geography:

*         Live central area and main activity there

*         Live in suburbs, activity in center city (downtown)

*         Live in center, active in suburbs

*         Live, active in suburbs

*         Just visiting (?)

5. Do you own a car? Yes/No

6. Do you drive to you main activity most days?

*         Drive mainly lone

*         Share car on regular basis

7. Do you use public transport in/to city:

*         Never

*         Rarely

*         Occasionally 

*         Often

8. Name and email.  For our internal use only. Email used to mail them our
results. If they prefer anonymity, that's just fine.

 

 

C.        The Three questions in the 10x3/3 Quick Survey:

 

1.       How good would you say is the transport system of our city?

0 = Awful. The pits. It sucks

1 = Bad. Painful. Disappointing 

2 = Weak. Not nearly good enough.

3. = Tolerable. But needs work

4. = Pretty good. Seem to be moving in the right direction

5. = Terrific. World level. Strong  example for other cities.

 

 2. Bright spots: What are the 3 best and brightest things that our city
team has already achieved

 in recent years (or are seriously working on)?

 

 1. ______________________________________________________

 

 2. ______________________________________________________

 

 3. ______________________________________________________

 

 3. Black holes: What are the 3 most appalling trouble spots of mobility for
all in our  city?

 

 1. ______________________________________________________

 

 2. ______________________________________________________

 

 3. ______________________________________________________

 

 

Some thoughts on the kind of clues might we offer them for answering these
two questions?

 

Positives that we might suggest they bear in mind (but not to eliminate or
try to precondition their own free choices of course):  Our system is . .. 

*	Pretty safe
*	Lots of choices
*	Healthy
*	Reliable (trip times)
*	Economic: pretty good deal
*	Contributes to clean air
*	Generally works well
*	Getting better

 

And some of the negatives that might want to have at the back of their minds
when the respond to the third and final question.  Our present
transportation arrangements in the city are . . . 

*	Dangerous
*	Offer no choice really (only one genuine option)
*	Unhealthy
*	Expensive
*	Highly polluting
*	Getting worse every year
*	System's broke
*	And nobody appears to be really willing to try to fix it.

 

 

*           *           *

 

And a final quick question to you in closing. How much would we have to pay
you - if anything - for you to get out on the street and run your own 10x3/3
survey in your city? \

 

Thanks for letting me know if this might be of any interest to you at all.

 

Eric Britton