Laserfiche WebLink
Page 1 of 1 <br />Gordon Heitke <br />From: William Morris [wmorris @drlmpls.com] <br />Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 1:31 PM <br />To: Gordon Heitke <br />Subject: Responses to City Council Questions <br />Hello Gordon, <br />Here are the responses to the three methodological questions raised by your Council Members: <br />1. Telephone calls are generally made on Monday through Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons. We <br />make appointments if a household is reached at an inconvenient time. We will attempt to contact a household <br />up to thirty times over 10 days if necessary, so as not to bias the sample against residents with active lifestyles. <br />2. Accuracy of the sample is not based on the percentage of city households contacted, but on the number of <br />households contacted. In other words, a 400 household sample of Lino Lakes and a 400 household sample of <br />Minneapolis both result in an overall accuracy of +/- 5.0% in 95 out of 100 cases. We employ larger samples if <br />subgroups, such as geographical subdivisions, age, or ethnic groups, need to be focused upon. <br />3. The Centennial School District survey was based upon a random -digit dialing generated sample. Using <br />telephone company information about the exchanges serving the School District, random suffixes (4 digits) <br />were computer - generated. These telephone numbers were then called and screened to insure they were homes <br />within the District. When that criterion was met, the survey was administered to a randomly selected adult in <br />residence. In this way, we are able to avoid problems caused by unlisted numbers or gender biases resulting <br />from who first answers the telephone. <br />If you require further information, I will be happy to provide it. <br />Thanks. <br />Bill Morris <br />DRL <br />10/3/2005 <br />