Measuring Progress Survey Report - West Dunbartonshire › media › 843232 › measuring_pro… · Measuring Progress Survey Report by Hexagon Research and Consulting 5 • In 2008,

Measuring Progress Survey

Report

by

Hexagon Research and Consulting

For further information contact:

Jim Patton

Director

Hexagon Research and Consulting

Suite 401

47 Timber Bush

Edinburgh

EH6 6QH

e-mail: [email protected]

July 2009


Report by Hexagon Research and Consulting 2

Contents

Page

Contents 2

Summary of Key Findings 3

Section 1: Introduction 6

Section 2: Background to the Survey 7

Section 3: Measures of Progress 9

Section 4: Contacting the Council 14

Section 5: West Dunbartonshire News 18

Section 6: Condition of Pavements 22

Appendix 1: Measuring Progress questionnaire 25

Appendix 2: The West Dunbartonshire Citizens’ Panel 34



Summary of Key Findings Section 3: Measures of Progress

• Panel members’ perception of their quality of life has not changed significantly

since 2006. However, a more significant variation has emerged from those living

in the regeneration areas. In 2006, 21% described their quality of life as either

“mostly dissatisfied” or “terrible”. This compares to only 7% in 2009

• Overall, there has been little change in the proportion of Panel members who feel

the Council is good at listening to its residents (14%, compared to 11% in 2008

and 16% in 2006)

• There has been an 8% fall in the proportion of Panel members who feel the

Council communicates well (from 24% in 2008 to 16% in 2009)

• Only 13% of Panel members agreed that the Council’s image was positive, while

the largest group (43%) disagreed with this

• Satisfaction with the Council as a service provider levels has fallen, although not

back to 2006 levels. Overall, 66% of Panel members say they are satisfied with

Council services (down 8%), while 5% more Panel members are dissatisfied

• A quarter of all Panel members (25%) stated that they had done unpaid volunteer

work or served on a voluntary management committee in the last three months, a

rate that is slightly lower than that found in the World of Work survey (33%)

undertaken in April 2007

• The proportion who feel they manage well financially has fallen significantly, from

71% to only 44%

Section 4: Contacting the Council

• Almost two thirds of Panel members (64%) stated that they had telephoned the

Council in the last year and attitudes to contacting the Council in this way have

remained very positive; 86% stated that the Council was easy to contact (the

comparative figure from the 2008 Multi Subject Survey was 85%). In addition,



nearly all respondents who phoned the Council (89%) said that staff were polite

courteous and helpful (compared to 94% in 2008)

• Satisfaction with the time it took the Council to answer the switchboard telephone

is also high, with 78% of those phoning satisfied and only 18% dissatisfied

• The 2009 survey has confirmed that a slightly lower proportion of those who have

written or emailed to the Council said they received a reply which was courteous

and easy to understand (79%, compared to 91% in 2009)

• Just over a quarter (29%) of Panel members said they were aware of the

Council’s Contact Centre and only 6% of this group had written a letter or

emailed the Contact Centre in the last year. Some concerns were raised primarily

by Panel members from the regeneration areas, with 56% dissatisfied with the

time it took for their query to be acknowledged and 41% saying the reply was not

courteous nor easy to understand

Section 5: West Dunbartonshire News

• A third of Panel members (33%) said they receive a copy of West

Dunbartonshire News every two months, a further 51% receive a copy at less

frequent intervals while 16% have never received it. This equates to 84% of

Panel members receiving a copy of West Dunbartonshire News, a rise on the

76% measured in 2008 and the 62% recorded in 2006

• The majority of those reading the paper regarded the articles as ‘fairly interesting’

(68%) and ‘fairly useful’ (58%), although approximately a quarter did not find

them interesting or useful

• Most Panel members (58%) say they would like to be kept informed about

Council news and policies through the paper. The majority also want West

Dunbartonshire News to cover national issues that affect West Dunbartonshire

(70%), ‘What’s On’ information and news from local communities (58%). There

was also a strong preference to have West Dunbartonshire News delivered

directly to their door (81%)



• In 2008, 71% of those reading West Dunbartonshire News said they read the

two page performance articles. However, by 2009, this had fallen to 59%

• Almost three quarters (74%) who had read the articles felt they were ‘fairly

balanced’ while 16% regarded them as ‘not very balanced’ or ‘not at all

balanced’, a response that is virtually identical to that found in 2008

Section 6: Condition of Pavements

• 46% of Panel members are satisfied with the condition of pavements on main

roads and around shopping centres, while 48% are dissatisfied (rising to 62% of

disabled Panel members)

• Only 35% are satisfied with the condition of pavements in residential areas, while

60% are dissatisfied (rising to 63% of disabled Panel members)

• The most common difficulties Panel members encountered included dog fouling

(68%) and cars parked on pavements (67%)



1. Introduction This document presents the key findings to emerge from the eleventh survey of

members of the West Dunbartonshire Citizens’ Panel.

The Citizens’ Panel Steering Group agreed that the principal focus of the survey would

be on four key issues:

• Measures of Progress (how the Council is meeting the aims in the Corporate

Plan and Single Outcome Agreement)

• Contacting the Council (telephone and written communication)

• West Dunbartonshire News

• Condition of Pavements

A questionnaire was designed to reflect these key information requirements and a copy

is presented in Appendix 1.

In our report, Section 2 presents the background to the assignment while Sections 3 to 6

provide an analysis of residents’ views on the key aspects of the survey.

Appendix 2 provides some background details to the West Dunbartonshire Citizens’

Panel.



2. Background 2.1 The West Dunbartonshire Citizens’ Panel The West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnership recognises that developing

and delivering services which meet local needs requires effective and genuine

community engagement. Central to this is the need to ensure that the views of the most

disadvantaged communities are heard to help deliver solutions that contribute to

sustainable community regeneration.

An important part of the Partnership’s strategy for effective community consultation has

been to develop a Citizens’ Panel, building on a long standing Panel run by West

Dunbartonshire Council. The Panel had a core of just over 1,000 members but a

decision was taken in March 2009 to boost this by recruiting up to 400 new members.

BY the end of the recruitment process in early June 2009, the Panel consisted of 1,433

members. A summary of the recent Panel recruitment process is contained in Appendix

2.

An analysis of the characteristics of Panel members indicated that it reflects many of the

characteristics of the West Dunbartonshire adult population. However, as the Panel was

recruited through a process of self selection, it was unlikely that its final composition

would fully reflect the characteristics of the West Dunbartonshire adult population as a

whole.

We recommended that this was resolved through re-weighting the final sample achieved

in any survey exercise using the Panel. All findings presented in this report are therefore

based on re-weighting responses to make them reflect the age characteristics of Panel

members in the regeneration areas and in the rest of West Dunbartonshire.

2.2 Measuring Progress Survey Response A postal survey approach was adopted for the Measuring Progress Survey and

questionnaires were sent out to Panel members in mid June 2009. A final response of

1,076 returns was achieved (75%), and the following table illustrates the high level of

accuracy that can be attributed to the results derived from this response overall, as well

as for the two main sub areas.



Survey Response

As illustrated above, results for the Panel as a whole have sampling errors limited to only

± 3%. This means, for example, that if 50% of Panel members say they are satisfied with

the Council, the real figure will be in a narrow range, from only 47% to 53%.

The sampling errors for the regeneration areas and the rest of West Dunbartonshire rise

marginally to only ± 4.4% and ± 4.0% respectively.

Regeneration Areas

Remainder of West Dunbartonshire

West Dunbartonshire

Sample

achieved

487 589 1,076

Sampling

error

± 4.4% ± 4.0% ± 3.0%



3. Measures of Progress

The Council’s Corporate Plan and the West Dunbartonshire Single Outcome Agreement

provide a number of indicators that enable the Council and other partner organisations to

measure the extent to which they are making progress with their key objectives. Panel

members were therefore initially asked a series of questions to help measure these

indicators of progress.

3.1 Quality of Life Panel members were asked to indicate which of a series of statements came closest to

describing how they feel about their overall quality of life at the moment. As illustrated

below, the majority of Panel members agreed with positive statements about their overall

quality of life, with 51% saying they were “mostly satisfied” and 10% that they were

“delighted”.

Which statement comes closest to describing how you feel about your overall quality of life at the moment?

Regeneration Areas

2006 2009

Rest of West Dunbartonshire

2006 2009

West Dunbartonshire

2006 2009 Delighted 9% 5% 7% 12% 8% 10%

Mostly satisfied 42% 44% 57% 54% 52% 51%

Mixed 27% 42% 30% 30% 29% 34%

Mostly dissatisfied 14% 5% 4% 4% 7% 4%

Terrible 7% 2% 2% Under 1%

4% 1%

Don’t know 0% 2% 1% Under 1%

1% Under 1%

Over a third (34%) said they had mixed views on their quality of life while only 5% said

they were “mostly dissatisfied“ or would describe their quality of life as “terrible”.

This question was asked in the Health and Well Being Survey in 2006. Overall, the views

of Panel members have not changed significantly since then. However, a more

significant variation has emerged from those living in the regeneration areas. In 2006,



21% described their quality of life as either “mostly dissatisfied” or “terrible”. This

compares to only 7% in 2009.

3.2 Attitudes to West Dunbartonshire Council In May 2006, Hexagon Research and Consulting conducted a survey of Panel members

entitled “Putting Customers First” which assessed their views on the Council’s

performance. These questions were repeated in the 2008 Multi Subject Survey and

again in the current Measuring Progress survey.

Panel members were asked to indicate if they agreed or disagreed with two statements

about the Council; the Council’s effectiveness at listening to and communicating with its

residents. Overall, there has been little change in the proportion of Panel members who

feel the Council is good at listening to its residents (14%, compared to 11% in 2008 and

16% in 2006). However, there has been an 8% fall in the proportion of Panel members

who feel the Council communicates well (from 24% in 2008 to 16% in 2009).

The most significant change since 2008 has occurred in the regeneration areas, where

there has been a 9% rise in those who feel the Council is good at listening

Panel members agreeing with the statements about West Dunbartonshire Council

Regeneration Areas Rest of West

Dunbartonshire West

Dunbartonshire 2006

2008

2009

2006

2008

2009

2006

2008

2009

The Council is good at listening to the needs of its residents

15%

12%

21%

16%

11%

11%

16%

11%

14%

The Council communicates well with its residents

24%

18%

19%

21%

26%

15%

22%

24%

16%

In the 2009 survey, Panel members were also asked if they felt the Council’s image was

positive or not. As illustrated below, only 13% agreed that its image was positive, while

the largest group (43%) disagreed with this.



Regeneration Areas Rest of West Dunbartonshire

West Dunbartonshire

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

Agree


Disagree

Agree


Disagree

The Council’s external image is positive

15%

37%

42%

12%

37%

44%

13%

37%

43%

In a survey conducted with Panel members in 2006, there was a generally positive view

of the Council’s role as a service provider. For example, 60% said they were satisfied

with the services they received from the Council, just under a quarter (24%) stated they

were fairly dissatisfied while only 11% said they were very dissatisfied. In the 2007

Customer Satisfaction Survey, even more Panel members expressed satisfaction with

the services received from the Council, up from 60% to 74%. There was also a fall in the

proportion dissatisfied, from 35% to only 16%.

In the current survey, satisfaction levels have dipped, although not back to 2006 levels.

Overall, 66% of Panel members say they are satisfied with Council services (down 8%),

while 5% more Panel members are dissatisfied.

On the whole, how satisfied are you with the services you receive from West Dunbartonshire Council?

Regeneration

Areas 2007 2009

Rest of West Dunbartonshire 2007 2009

West Dunbartonshire 2007 2009

Very satisfied 7% 5% 8% 3% 8% 3%

Satisfied 62% 53% 68% 68% 66% 63%

Dissatisfied 21% 21% 10% 13% 13% 16%

Very dissatisfied 4% 8% 3% 3% 3% 5%

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

7% 13% 9% 13% 8% 13%



3.3 Volunteering A quarter of all Panel members (25%) stated that they had done unpaid volunteer work

or served on a voluntary management committee in the last three months, a rate that is

slightly lower than that found in the World of Work survey (33%) undertaken in April

2007.

Have you done any unpaid volunteer work or served on a voluntary management committee in the last three months?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Yes 20% 27% 25%

No 80% 73% 75%

3.4 Financial Well Being The 2007 World of Work survey found that the majority of Panel members (71%) felt

they were able to manage financially either ‘very well’ or ‘quite well’. A further 19% stated

that they get by alright but 10% agreed that they either do not manage very well, have

some financial difficulties or are in deep financial trouble.

These perceptions have changed markedly since then. In the midst of a severe

economic recession, it is not surprising to find that the proportion who feel they manage

well has fallen significantly, from 71% to only 44%. However, the proportion of panel

members who say they don’t manage well or have financial difficulties has only risen

marginally and the main rise is among those saying they ‘get by alright’ (up by 24% to

43%).



Taking everything together, which of the statements best describes how you are managing financially these days?

Regeneration Areas

2007 2009


2007 2009

West Dunbartonshire

2007 2009 I manage very well 24% 9% 32% 18% 30% 15%

I manage quite well 39% 22% 41% 32% 41% 29%

I get by alright 26% 46% 16% 41% 19% 43%

I don’t manage very well

4% 10% 4% 4% 4% 5%

I have some financial difficulties

4% 10% 3% 5% 3% 6%

I am in deep financial trouble

2% 3% 4% 1% 3% 1%

Not stated 1% 1% 0% 1% 1% 1%



4: Contacting the Council Almost two thirds of all Panel members (64%) stated that they had telephoned the

Council in the last year and attitudes to contacting the Council in this way have remained

very positive. For example 86% stated that the Council was easy to contact (the

comparative figure from the 2008 Multi Subject Survey was 85%). In addition, nearly all

respondents who phoned the Council (89%) said that staff were polite courteous and

helpful (compared to 94% in 2008).

Phoning the Council

Regeneration Areas

2008 2009



Easy to contact 75% 81% 90% 88% 85% 86%

Staff were polite courteous and helpful

86% 91% 98% 89% 94% 89%

Respondents phoning the Council in the last year

Satisfaction with the time it took the Council to answer the switchboard telephone is also

high, with 78% of those phoning satisfied and only 18% dissatisfied.

How satisfied were you with the time the Council took to answer the switchboard telephone?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Very satisfied 13% 25% 21%

Satisfied 59% 55% 57%

Dissatisfied 11% 10% 10%

Very dissatisfied 14% 4% 8%


3% 6% 5%

Base: respondents who have contacted the Council by telephone



In 2008, contacting the Council in writing was the least common contact method used by

Panel members, with only 9% emailing and 7% writing. This trend has continued in

2009 with 11% emailing and 7% writing. Of those who emailed, 37% stated that they

used the web forum, compared to only 15% in the 2008 survey.

Writing to or emailing the Council

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

e-mailed 9% 12% 11%

Written 9% 6% 7%

The 2009 survey has confirmed that a slightly lower proportion of those who have written

or emailed to the Council said they received a reply which was courteous and easy to

understand (79%, compared to 91% in 2009) while there has been little change in the

proportion who stated that they received their acknowledgement or reply within 10 days

(69%, compared to 70% in 2008).

Experience of writing to or emailing the Council

Regeneration Areas

2008 2009



Acknowledgement within 10 days

64%

58%

70%

73%

70%

69%

Reply courteous and easy to understand

100% 60%

89%

86% 91% 79%

Respondents who have written/e-mailed the Council in the last year Just over a quarter (29%) of Panel members said they were aware of the Council’s

Contact Centre and only 6% of this group (equating to only 2% of all Panel members)

had written a letter or emailed the Contact Centre in the last year.



Are you aware of the Council’s Contact Centre?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Yes 24% 31% 29%

No 76% 69% 71%

Have you written a letter to or emailed to the Council’s Contact Centre in the last year?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Yes 14% 3% 6%

No 86% 97% 94%

Base: respondents who are aware of the Council’s Contact Centre

Those writing to or emailing the Contact Centre were asked to indicate how satisfied

they were with the time it took to receive an acknowledgement as well as whether the

reply was courteous and easy to understand. This represents a very small number of

Panel members and the results therefore need to be treated with caution. However, as

illustrated below, concerns were raised primarily by Panel members from the

regeneration areas, with 56% dissatisfied with the time it took for their query to be

acknowledged and 41% saying the reply was neither courteous nor easy to understand.

How satisfied were with the time the Council’s Contact Centre took to acknowledge your written communication?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire






30% 32% 30%

Base: respondents who have contacted the Contact Centre in the last year



Was the reply courteous and easy to understand?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Yes 59% 89% 74%

No 41% 11% 26%

Base: respondents who have contacted the Contact Centre in the last year



5: West Dunbartonshire News

Panel members were advised that West Dunbartonshire News, published by West

Dunbartonshire Council is delivered to all households in West Dunbartonshire at least six

times a year.

A third of Panel members (33%) said they receive a copy every two months, a further

51% said they receive a copy at less frequent intervals while 16% have never received it.

This equates to 84% of Panel members receiving a copy of West Dunbartonshire

News, a rise on the 76% measured in 2008 and the 62% recorded in 2006.

How often do you receive a copy of West Dunbartonshire News?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Every two months 33% 32% 33%

Less than every two months

46% 53% 51%

Never receive it 21% 15% 16%

Mixed views were recorded on the extent to which Panel members read West

Dunbartonshire News, with more than two thirds (69%) saying they read all or most of

it.

How much do you normally read?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

All of it 38% 27% 30%

Most of it 33% 41% 39%

Some of it 25% 30% 28%

None of it 4% 2% 3%

Base: respondents who receive West Dunbartonshire News

The majority of those reading the paper regarded the articles as ‘fairly interesting’ (68%)

and ‘fairly useful’ (58%), although approximately a quarter did not find them interesting or



useful, confirming the views expressed by some Panel members attending focus groups

to discuss West Dunbartonshire News in detail1.

How interesting do you find the articles?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Very interesting 8% 10% 10%

Fairly interesting 71% 67% 68%

Not very interesting 19% 22% 21%

Not at all interesting 2% 1% 1%

Base: respondents who read West Dunbartonshire News How useful do you find the articles?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Very useful 6% 10% 9%

Fairly useful 55% 59% 58%

Not very useful 30% 26% 27%

Not at all useful 2% 2% 2%

Don’t know 7% 3% 4%

Base: respondents who read West Dunbartonshire News

The programme of focus group research indicated that, while Panel members were

critical of some aspects of West Dunbartonshire News, they fully supported the

prospect of it being developed into a new format and saw this as an opportunity for the

Council to inform residents about issues that affected them and their communities

directly. This trend has also emerged from the Measuring Progress Survey, with most

Panel members (58%) saying they would like to be kept informed about Council news

and policies through the paper. The majority also want West Dunbartonshire News to

1 West Dunbartonshire News. Report on Citizen Panel Focus Group Research. Hexagon Research and Consulting. July 2009.



cover national issues that affect West Dunbartonshire (70%), ‘What’s On’ information

and news from local communities (58%). There was also a strong preference to have

West Dunbartonshire News delivered directly to their door (81%).

How would you like to be informed about Council news and policies?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Leaflets/printed materials

25% 20% 22%

Council newspaper 50% 62% 58%

Advertising in the press 11% 13% 12%

Website 10% 3% 5%

Not stated 4% 2% 3%

What additional content would you like the West Dunbartonshire News to cover?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

National issues affecting West Dunbartonshire

65% 72% 70%

News from local communities

62% 56% 58%

Business news 24% 31% 29%

‘What’s on’ information 65% 72% 70%

How would you prefer to receive the West Dunbartonshire News?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Direct to my door 78% 82% 81%

Online 8% 6% 7%

From newsagent/ supermarket

11% 11% 11%

Not stated 3% 1% 1%



Since August 2005, West Dunbartonshire Council has included two pages of articles

about its performance in West Dunbartonshire News. Panel members’ experience of

reading these articles and their views on their value in reporting Council performance

was assessed in the 2006 survey ‘Putting Customers First’ and in the 2008 ‘Multi Subject

Survey’. In 2008, 71% of those reading West Dunbartonshire News said they read

these articles. However, by 2009, this had fallen to 59%.

Since August 2005, West Dunbartonshire News includes two pages of articles about the performance of the Council. Have you read these articles?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Yes 57% 59% 59%

No 43% 41% 41%

Almost three quarters (74%) who had read the articles felt they were ‘fairly balanced’

while 16% regarded them as ‘not very balanced’ or ‘not at all’ balanced, a response that

is virtually identical to that found in 2008 (Panel members attending the focus groups on

West Dunbartonshire News were more critical of the format and balance of these

articles).

How balanced were the articles?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Very balanced 9% 11% 10%

Fairly balanced 79% 72% 74%

Not very balanced 11% 15% 14%

Not at all balanced 1% 2% 2%

Base: respondents who have read Council performance articles



6: Condition of Pavements The final section of the Measuring progress survey posed questions on issues which

were raised during consultation with a number of disability groups in West

Dunbartonshire i.e. Panel members’ experiences of using pavements in West

Dunbartonshire, including issues such as the condition of the surfaces and the kind of

obstructions found.

Initially, Panel members were asked to state how satisfied they were with the condition

of pavements on main roads and around shopping centres as well as in residential

areas. As illustrated below, mixed views were recorded:

• 46% are satisfied with the condition of pavements on main roads and around

shopping centres, while 48% are dissatisfied (rising to 62% of disabled Panel

members)

• Only 35% are satisfied with the condition of pavements in residential areas, while

60% are dissatisfied (rising to 63% of disabled Panel members)

In West Dunbartonshire, how satisfied are you with the conditions of pavements on main roads & around shopping centres?

Regeneration

Areas Rest of West

Dunbartonshire West

Dunbartonshire Very satisfied 3% 3% 3%





4% 6% 5%

Not stated 1% 1% 1%



In West Dunbartonshire, how satisfied are you with the conditions of pavements in residential areas?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire






7% 2% 4%

Not stated 3% 1% 1%

The most common difficulties Panel members encountered included:

• Dog fouling (68%)

• Cars parked on pavements (67%)

How frequently do you come across difficulties due to the following?

Regeneration Areas


West Dunbartonshire

Disabled Respondents

Overhanging trees

39% 41% 41% 35%

Overgrown hedges/bushes

47% 46% 46% 40%

Cars parked on pavements

68% 67% 67% 63%

Wheelie bins

44% 32% 36% 37%

Dog fouling

73% 66% 68% 77%

Advertising boards

9% 10% 9% 8%

Base: respondents who very frequently or quite frequently come across difficulties



Panel members were given the opportunity to comment on any particular aspects of the

pavements in West Dunbartonshire and these strongly reflected the concerns raised in

the table above. The most common comment was a general concern about the poor

condition of the pavements (6%), while others had more specific concerns:

• Dog fouling (2%)

• Litter on pavements/not enough litter bins (2%)

• Cars parked on footpaths/blocking use of footpaths (2%)

• The quality of patch repairs is very poor especially by cable companies (2%)

• Wheelie bins blocking paths (1%)

• Inadequate gritting of paths (1%)



Appendix 1 Measuring Progress Survey Questionnaire





















Appendix 2 West Dunbartonshire Citizens’ Panel



The West Dunbartonshire Citizens’ Panel was recruited with the following aims:

• To be representative of local residents and willing to be surveyed on a regular basis

about the policies and services of the community planning partners

• To recruit approximately 500 Panel members from the regeneration areas and a

further 500 across the rest of West Dunbartonshire

• To allow these views to be fed into the decision-making processes of the community

planning partners

• To keep Panel members informed of the actions taken by community planning

partners in response to the views expressed

The original Panel recruitment exercise produced 1,185 members, with 542 in the

Regeneration areas and 639 across the rest of West Dunbartonshire. After running six

surveys with the Panel over a two year period, it was agreed that efforts should be made

to refresh the Panel with up to 300 new members to counter falling response rates. In

September 2007, an exercise was carried out which confirmed that existing members

stated they wished to remain on the Panel. A fresh recruitment exercise was run during

October 2007 with the aim of attracting 300 new members to the Panel. At the end of

these stages, there are 1,037 members of the Panel, with 505 in the Regeneration areas

and 532 in the rest of West Dunbartonshire.

In March 2009, it was agreed that an attempt should be made to increase the size of the

Panel to allow survey results to be quoted with even greater accuracy as well as support

more sub group reporting. Recruitment questionnaires were therefore sent out to a

random sample of 7,500 residents on the edited version of the Electoral Register with a

target of 5% (375) agreeing to join the Panel. By the middle of June 2009, 396 new

members had been recruited, boosting the Panel to 1,433 members (with 739 in the

Regeneration areas and 694 in the rest of West Dunbartonshire).



An analysis of the characteristics of Panel members indicates that, overall, the West

Dunbartonshire Citizens’ Panel: reflects many of the characteristics of the West

Dunbartonshire adult population. However, as the Panel was recruited through a

process of self selection, it was unlikely that its final composition would fully reflect the

characteristics of the West Dunbartonshire adult population as a whole.

The Panel was also designed to have a disproportionate number of members from

Regeneration areas to allow robust reporting of results for these areas. The main

implication of this is that it will be important to re-weight the findings from any survey

which uses the Panel. We recommended that this was done to correct the imbalance by

geographical area (Regeneration areas versus the rest of West Dunbartonshire) and by

the age of the respondent, and all findings presented in this report are based on this re-

weighting process.

Documents

Measuring Progress Survey Report - West Dunbartonshire › media › 843232 › measuring_pro… · Measuring Progress Survey Report by Hexagon Research and Consulting 5 • In 2008,