{"id":500873,"date":"2026-01-08T08:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500873\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T08:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T08:03:10","slug":"dallas-community-survey-needs-a-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500873\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas community survey needs a makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city of Dallas is working on its annual community survey,<\/a> with comments from council members due Friday. The draft survey includes 162 city-related items \u2014 and 23 of those actually have two parts \u2014 and 13 demographic questions.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s overkill. A shorter, more focused questionnaire could be more informative and valuable to decision-makers and residents.<\/p>\n

The stated purpose of the survey is to \u201cassess resident satisfaction to help improve the quality of city services and to determine priorities for the community,\u201d according to a city presentation. Dallas decides the questions, and a private firm, the ETC Institute of Olathe, Kan., conducts the survey. It is, essentially, a standard customer satisfaction survey, with valid methodology and appropriate statistical analysis. <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s one of the inherent weaknesses of the typical city satisfaction survey. Residents aren\u2019t merely customers, they\u2019re collaborators in the enterprise of civic life. Their actions and attitudes help create the community they inhabit, and standard customer satisfaction surveys don\u2019t capture that.<\/p>\n

Opinion<\/p>\n

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Government decision-making is a series of trade-offs, and the survey should reflect that. A few brief, scenario-based questions could be useful. For example, include a pie chart of the city\u2019s budget and ask where new revenue should be directed or what could be cut in a lean year. Explain the infrastructure budget and ask whether some street repair money should be moved into sidewalk repairs or vice versa.<\/p>\n

Methodologies need to adapt to the digital age. Last year\u2019s surveys were sent via U.S. Postal Service, though the cover letter included a link to an online version, according to ETC\u2019s 2025 report. The postal service has become less reliable, and many younger residents do almost all their official business electronically. Despite the methodological challenges, an all-electronic alternative is imperative.<\/p>\n

Because the survey reflects perceptions<\/a> as much as actual experience or knowledge, it should ask where respondents obtain information about local events and issues. Legacy news outlets? Websites? City news releases? Texts? Social media? Word of mouth? This could help city leaders understand how residents\u2019 perceptions are shaped. <\/p>\n

Ask a few open-ended questions; residents often have useful information. What are the three best things about living in Dallas? What are the three worst things? Have you thought about moving out of Dallas recently? If yes, why and where would you move?<\/p>\n

It may be too late to make major changes to the 2026 survey, but council members should at least shorten it. Do most residents have feelings about storm drainage, ambulance service, or volunteer disaster response programs? How do respondents react to this: \u201cI am pleased with the direction City Government is taking to provide opportunities for residents to seek economic opportunities.\u201d What does that even mean?<\/p>\n

Focus questions on the core services<\/a> that are perennially important to residents: public safety, streets and infrastructure, code compliance and parks.<\/p>\n

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and <\/b>submit your letter here<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at <\/b>letters@dallasnews.com<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Dallas is working on its annual community survey, with comments from council members due Friday.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":369134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,4219,1596,14840,6083,8629,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-500873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-city-council","12":"tag-editorials","13":"tag-local-politics","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115858440575915417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}