WS - E - Conducting Community Surveys

Survey administration Carrying out a survey Conducting a large survey is a substantial task. This section of the guide discusses the highlights of survey administration. You may want to refer to the appendix for additional resources about this step of the survey. Resources must be identified and capacity for conducting the survey must be assessed. Cities or police agencies often contract with local colleges, universities or research organizations to conduct surveys. These organizations have the resources in terms of telephones, computers and trained personnel to carry out the survey. While this approach may be expensive, this may be the most efficient way to conduct the research. In addition, many police and city leaders feel that there is increased legitimacy attached to research findings conducted external to the police department. The perceived legitimacy associated with survey research is not a minor issue. Conducting their own survey of the community may open the city or police department to criticism or make results suspect. However, if results are designed primarily for use within the police agency for example, feedback for allocating police resources or providing annual evaluation information & an in-house survey may be appropriate. Using the CVS software companion to this guide relieves some of the criticism applied to police surveys. The CVS is a standardized survey which builds on the National Crime Victimization Survey, conducted for over 25 years by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The community policing questions in the CVS were rigorously field tested by the U.S. Department of Justice in 12 jurisdictions. The validation processes carried out have standardized the survey instrument, so that the same survey will likely be used by other police agencies in the nation. The survey instrument has a great deal of validity on its own merits. Effort and care must be expended to set up and carry out the survey. Resources such as telephones and computers must be allocated and located. Personnel must be selected and thoroughly trained. Methods of supervision and quality control must be developed to insure the accuracy of the surveys, and issues such as time frames must be established. Coordination and quality control Administration of a telephone survey is not complicated but requires careful planning and close adherence to a series of quality control procedures. Planning a survey also involves estimating the time needed to carry out the survey in a relatively compressed period of time. Surveys which are allowed to drag out for months and months run the risk of a major crime event occurring which will alter respondents' perceptions of crime or police in the midst of the survey. To avoid this situation, every effort should be made to conduct the survey as quickly as possible. 16 A Practical Guide for Police