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Historically, most community surveys were conducted by phone. People responded better to a convenient phone call than a stranger knocking on their door. Then as cell phones (always on hand), identity theft and unwanted calls became the norm, unknown numbers began to feel intrusive. Today, few people will pick up the phone for a number they don’t recognize. So surveys sent by mail have become more popular because more residents respond, and they can complete the survey at their own convenience.

Like dolphins are to foxes, community surveys and political polls are two completely different animals. But because surveys and polls fall under the same social-science umbrella, some people mistake the two. So it’s important to understand that public perceptions of polls can affect perceptions of surveys. When the survey’s goal is to give the most precise results possible, mode matters. Surveys taken alone by mail and web yield more candid responses than surveys taken from an interviewer over the phone. Why is that? Kenyans, especially, tend to be eager to please. With phone interviews, people often will answer what they think the other person wants to hear rather than what they really feel. So ratings from phone surveys skew more positive, but they are not more accurate than self-administered surveys. And since you don’t have to pay for interviewers, self-administered surveys are more cost effective. For the sake of accuracy and money, the future will prefer modes where respondents take the survey on their own.

The future of surveys is online

Surveys are already being conducted online. Colve Technologies, but to mention, includes an additional web survey, open to all residents. Web surveys are convenient, self-administered, and fairly inexpensive. In the long term, online surveys will become even more popular. Access to information is a boon of the Digital Age. Local governments can more easily gather more data from more sources than ever before. Leaders can consider their community survey results along with relevant secondary data from other sources. Uniform crime reports, for example, can give context to how residents rate safety in their city. The problem is, so much information is overwhelming, and most data are acquired and reported separately. But now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are being developed to reign it all in. Online dashboards and reports can now make data interactive, so it is easier to compare points in different ways. As these tools become more commonplace, affordable and user-friendly, evidence-based decision-making will be easier in the future.