WUWF asked Amy Newburn, who handled the Pensacola Community Survey for the UWF Haas Center, about our criticism that West Pensacola was under-represented in the survey.
“Not all respondents are going to pick up the phone,†Newburn said. “But, it’s really important for us to note that every person that had a phone number and within the city limits had an equal chance of being picked.â€
Through a public records request, Inweekly obtained the city’s contract with the UWF Haas Center. In the agreement, the Haas Center committed to do four rounds of phone calls to collect 400 responses. There was no requirement that the respondents be proportionate to the city districts and the demographics of the city residents.
“To keep the cost to a minimum, the Center cannot guarantee the results to be statistically significant at the district level.”
The city paid $12,000 for the survey.
Does the Haas Center survey accurately reflect the opinions of Pensacola residents? I guess that depends on whether you believe people living in Cordova Park or Gaberonne view city services the same as those in Pensacola Village or the Tanyards.
If your answer is ‘yes,’ then it doesn’t matter which 400 people answer the survey. Any 400 random city residents will do.
Read REDACTED_-_UWF_Haas_-_Executed_2016_Community_Survey_Contract.
Table 1. District Level Distribution of Respondents |
||
District |
Residential Distribution |
Sample Distribution by District |
1 |
12.9% |
19.7% |
2 |
15.6% |
10.1% |
3 |
13.0% |
21.3% |
4 |
15.2% |
19.4% |
5 |
14.0% |
10.8% |
6 |
15.8% |
11.5% |
7 |
13.5% |
7.2% |
just 12 grand lol that’s pocket change compared to all the other waste of tax payer funds given out to ashton’s pals
Not quite.
The City powers wanted a certain answer.
They got the answer they wanted.
Ask somebody this; has the HAAS Center EVER delivered any work they were hired to do and the results were not what the customer wanted?
Why doesn’t the city mail out the survey to all city residents with a postage paid reply form? The bulk mailing for postage would have been less money and they could have received more accurate results.
Word on the street is that Eric Olson and his “personal assistant” Beth Barr instructed them not to do so! Olson is known to bully everyone he can.
Looks like the city threw away 12,000 dollars to get a slanted opinion poll. Nothing new here since it has been happening for years with no complaint.