Local Survey Launched By Resident Research Specialist

By John Voket

This year Labor Day Parade-goers may have noticed a flatbed truck with a small rock band on the back calling attention to a banner that read: “Have you Taken the Newtown Survey?” This week marks the launch of a townwide survey that has been in the works since February.

Resident Paul Lundquist, a principal in the nationally known research and consulting firm The Harrison Group, is providing his and his firm’s services at no charge to the town. Mr Lundquist has created a survey, scripted in collaboration with town officials and independent advocacy groups.

He hopes the final results will provide in-depth perspectives on the needs, attitudes, and behaviors of local residents. The survey will include a range of topics, including: perceived quality of life in Newtown; town resources used for recreation and leisure; the quality of education and school facilities; what Fairfield Hills should provide for the town; how commercial and residential development is impacting the town, and how it should be planned for in the future.

Mr Lundquist is appealing to a broad base of Newtown residents to complete this survey.

“I know that there is a large majority of people in town living perfectly happy lives without concerning themselves with things like voting on town budgets, local elections, Fairfield Hills, or any other specific issues facing the town,” he told The Newtown Bee this week. “I know this because I was one of these people for a number of years myself. They are by no means people who don’t care, they are simply people who don’t participate.”

Mr Lundquist believes those who are not more engaged in town issues are forced to prioritize family and work concerns as a matter of necessity.

“Lots of people have very full lives and do not feel compelled to break out of the daily routines that have been developed with their families. Local town issues just aren’t on their radar screen,” Mr Lundquist said. “I am especially interested to reach out to these people and hear what they have to say about things in this survey.”

So he has designed the document as an easy way for residents to weigh in on a host of topics facing the town.

“[Respondents] don’t have to have in-depth knowledge of town issues to have their opinion count. This survey represents a totally level playing field,” he said.

One of Mr Lundquist’s goals is to help present accurate information to survey takers and then record their opinions once the information is understood.

“Something that this survey does well is educate and inform people on each of the issues we ask about,” he said. “Completing this survey can really be worth people’s time. I can almost guarantee every person who takes the survey will learn something that will become important to them and their family.”

It was with the goal of learning more about a specific issue that sparked the idea for this project. As a resident, Mr Lundquist said he attended a town meeting to learn, but it was as a professional researcher that he listened to the range of opinions expressed that night.

“I went to a town meeting way back in early February, and was very impressed by the number of folks who came out to listen and be heard. There were at least a couple hundred people there that night,” he recalled.

That meeting was a February 7 Legislative Council special session.

“I believe the official purpose of that original meeting was to give people a chance to be heard on the issue of new municipal and board of education offices that are planned for Fairfield Hills,” Mr Lundquist said. “But the comments made were clearly reflecting broader concerns over education spending and other issues that went far beyond plans for town offices.”

Mr Lundquist said he went into the meeting as a casual observer, and walked out ready to commit his professional services to the community.

“After hearing everyone speak that evening, I stood up and said simply that I thought it would be very useful to find out whether the ideas and opinions expressed that evening were widely held by all town residents, or whether they reflected an enthusiastic minority,” he said. “I think there was some immediate support from the crowd regarding that idea, because they wanted to have an impact on the actions of the Legislative Council.”

He said while it was clear many attendees may have wanted a to say, “hey, listen to us,” there was likely an equally strong opposite opinion that was not being heard that night at all.

“I wanted to offer a tool to capture and understand the true perspectives of everyone in our town, and provide a true snapshot of the way things are in Newtown. That’s what this survey is all about,” Mr Lundquist said.

In the ensuing months, Mr Lundquist followed up his offer. attending meetings with First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and the Board of Selectmen, and eventually won a motion of endorsement from the group.

“I’ve also been working with the Legislative Council for quite some time to let them know what I was up to and encourage their input,” he said.

In addition to the Board of Selectmen and Legislative Council, Mr Lundquist also sought input from Friends of Fairfield Hills, WeCAN, InsideNewtown, The Pootatuck Watershed Association, Newtown Parks and Recreation Commission, Newtown Youth & Family Services, Newtown Senior Center, and individuals from various school PTAs.

“It’s a very good survey, but since I know how valuable people’s time is, every completed survey will be entered into a drawing to win an Apple iPhone or its cash equivalent — that’s about a $500 dollar value,” he said of the premium.

The survey is available to take online at www.surveyhome.com/NewtownSurvey. Anyone who does not have computer access can obtain a paper copy of the survey at the Newtown Senior Center, the offices of The Newtown Bee, or by calling 203-573-0400, extension 114, to have a copy of the survey mailed to them.

An online survey methodology supplemented with a paper hardcopy survey will provide an accurate and projectable sample to represent Newtown’s population, Mr Lundquist said.

“I will weight the data to reflect real-world Newtown demographics like age, employment, income, ethnicity, region of town, and key behaviors like whether respondents are registered to vote, participated in the budget referendum process, or have children in public school system,” he concluded. “At the end of the day, we can be quite certain that the resulting data will be reflective and representative of all residents of Newtown.”