Bill needs no help from us in setting the record straight. Here is his retort to last week's Explorer letter Re: OV Surveys. The original letter (we didn't post it) is below.
Letter from survey firm off the mark
In response to the letter from Chris Baker of Marketing Intelligence (Survey tries to reach all of OV, June 17, 2009):
It's understandable that a company that makes its living charging taxpayers $17,500 for a survey would take issue with a survey conducted at no expense to taxpayers. However, Baker charges that a previous article "has several inaccuracies and misrepresentations that should be addressed," but then fails to point out any inaccuracies or misrepresentations.
Baker points out that council member K.C. Carter, along with former council members Dankwerth and Parish, "felt very strongly that they represent all residents of Oro Valley, and not just those who are registered to vote." It's interesting to note that Carter, Dankwerth and Parish didn't bother to ask voters whether they were willing to pay $48 million for ball fields before they put that issue on the ballot and proceeded with a $50,000 education campaign. In the ultimate surveys conducted a few months after the $17,500 survey was delivered, the registered voters of Oro Valley proceeded to vote Dankwerth and Parish out of office.
Baker concludes that "Mayor Paul Loomis and council members Paula Abbott, William Garner and Al Kunisch ... asked insightful questions pertaining to the methodology and survey results at the presentation of findings." That's an interesting statement, as I was not on council in January 2008 when the survey findings were presented. So much for accuracy.
Bill Garner, Council member, Oro Valley
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Survey tries to reach all of OV
This letter is in response to the May 6 opinion piece written by Oro Valley Town Council Member Salette Latas entitled "Survey takes OV pulse without expense."
Council member Latas should be commended for her efforts in reaching out to Oro Valley residents and wanting to learn more about their wishes and desires pertaining to how the town operates. However, her article has several inaccuracies and misrepresentations that should be addressed.
Our company, Marketing Intelligence, had the privilege of working with the Oro Valley Town Council in providing them with a community survey that was based on industry standards in terms of methodology, survey question writing and data analysis.
It is important for the residents of Oro Valley to know that in our meetings with the survey sub-committee (consisting of town council member KC Carter and former council members Helen Dankwerth and Terry Parish), the group felt very strongly that they represent all residents of Oro Valley, and not just those who are registered to vote. As such, the research methodology needed to be inclusive of all town residents, making the use of the voter registration list as the sole source of potential survey participants insufficient. This resulted in a telephone survey using a list of registered voters and a supplemental list of residents with Oro Valley addresses, all of whom were subsequently screened at the very beginning of the survey.
In keeping with sound survey design principles and the sub-committee's explicit desires to ensure that the survey was completely unbiased, any questions and / or potential responses that could in any way be perceived as leading were to be re-worded or eliminated. Additionally, each committee member made it apparent that the survey results were to be used by the entire town and should not reflect any of their personal research desires.
The entire town council wanted a survey and subsequent data analysis that was 1) representative, 2) based on solid research methodology, 3) unbiased and 4) touched on a variety of subject matters that are important to town residents. We feel that we have delivered exactly what was asked for and are fortunate to have worked with such a professional client, not only in the three council members mentioned above, but also Mayor Paul Loomis and council members Paula Abbott, William Garner and Al Kunisch, all of whom asked insightful questions pertaining to the methodology and survey results at the presentation of findings.
Chris Baker, Marketing Intelligence, Tucson
1 comment:
When I read that letter last week, I, too, said, "Huh?" when I read the part about how Bill Garner asked insightful questions about the methodology and survey results. I thought, "Uhhh, Bill Garner wasn't on the council at the time of that survey."
Don't you love how when people try to point out others mistakes, they always manage to throw in a few of their own!
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