RepJ survey

Since Representative Journalism (RepJ) is a pilot project, there is an ongoing evaluation component. Professor Rachel Davis Mersey (moving from the U of MN to Northwestern U this summer) will be conducting a variety of polls and surveys to assess the project’s impact.

Here’s her intro to the first RepJ survey:

rachelWe want your feedback on Locally Grown! Understanding how and why you use Web sites like this one is important to journalism researchers.  Locally Grown represents a strong community conversation. We are interested in how and why you participate. The questions are simple, and the survey is designed to take you about 5 minutes to complete. You may leave any questions blank, and your participation is completely voluntary. Your name will never be attached to your responses, which will only be used in summary. This is about understanding your community and its resources. Our goal is simple: to determine the best practices to improve the work of other community Web sites across the country. We hope you choose to participate.

repj-survey

6 Comments

  1. John Thomas said:

    Your name will never be attached to your responses, which will only be used in summary.

    Just be advised, that the last question is optional, and asks for your e-mail address if you wish to participate in further polls.

    July 28, 2008
  2. Rachel Davis Mersey said:

    Thanks for your attention to detail, John.

    Yes, the last question (your e-mail address) is completely optional. And your e-mail if you choose to help us with a couple of follow-up surveys about Locally Grown will not be attached to your answers. Everything is coded for anonymity.

    Also, we will NEVER use your e-mail address for anything other than questions about Locally Grown. This is not a scheme to get you to participate in survey research, I assure you.

    Thank you all!

    July 28, 2008
  3. Patrick Enders said:

    That was easy. Hope it’s useful.

    It was, however, weird being asked all those questions about my “block,” as we are currently renting, but looking to buy in a more walkable neighborhood closer to downtown.

    Given that preexisting plan to relocate (it was going to be in 1 yr or less, but for money reasons it’ll probably now be a couple more years), I feel more attached to the city of Northfield generally than I do to my own block.

    July 29, 2008
  4. Rachel Davis Mersey said:

    Thank you, Patrick. We try to be painless. Every response is useful so, again, thank you!

    It’s interesting to hear your feedback on your current block. I think many renters would echo your sentiment about attachment.

    July 29, 2008
  5. Rachel Davis Mersey said:

    We only have 29 responses from readers of Locally Grown. We’d love to hear from more of you. These responses are key to understanding journalism in communities like Northfield.

    August 5, 2008
  6. Rachel Davis Mersey said:

    We’re up to 33 responses after my last post. Thank you to all those who have participated. If you haven’t yet, please click and respond. The survey takes only about 5 minutes and is designed to give us a baseline to test future experiments at Locally Grown. We want to know what you are thinking now!

    August 10, 2008

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