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Conducting the survey
<br />The 2,800 randomly selected households received mailings beginning on August 1, 2022 and the survey remained open for seven
<br />weeks. The first mailing was a postcard inviting the household to participate in the survey. The next mailing contained a cover
<br />letter with instructions, the survey questionnaire, and a postage-paid return envelope.
<br />About 4% of the 2,800 mailed invitations or surveys were returned because the household address was vacant or the postal
<br />service was unable to deliver the survey as addressed. Of the remaining 2,680 households that received the invitations to
<br />participate, 582 completed the survey, providing an overall response rate of 22%. The response rate was calculated using
<br />AAPOR’s response rate #2* for mailed surveys of unnamed persons.
<br />It is customary to describe the precision of estimates made from surveys by a “level of confidence” and accompanying
<br />“confidence interval” (or margin of error). A traditional level of confidence, and the one used here, is 95%. The 95% confidence
<br />interval can be any size and quantifies the sampling error or imprecision of the survey results because some residents’ opinions
<br />are relied on to estimate all residents’ opinions. The margin of error for the City of St. Anthony survey is no greater than plus or
<br />minus four percentage points around any given percent reported for all respondents (582 completed surveys).
<br />In addition to the randomly selected “probability sample” of households, a link to an online open participation survey was
<br />publicized by the City of St. Anthony Village. The open participation survey was identical to the probability sample survey with
<br />two small updates; it asked a question to confirm the respondent was a resident and a question about where they heard about
<br />the survey. The open participation survey was open to all city residents and became available on September 5, 2022. The survey
<br />remained open for two weeks. The data presented in the following tabs exclude the open participation survey data, but a tab at
<br />the end provides the complete frequency of responses to questions by the open participation respondents.
<br />The survey datasets were analyzed using all or some of a combination of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), R,
<br />Python, and Tableau. For the most part, the percentages presented in the reports represent the “percent positive.” The percent
<br />positive is the combination of the top two most positive response options (i.e., excellent/good, very safe/somewhat safe,
<br />essential/very important, etc.), or, in the case of resident behaviors/participation, the percent positive represents the proportion
<br />of respondents indicating “yes” or participating in an activity at least once a month.
<br />On many of the questions in the survey respondents may answer “don’t know.” The proportion of respondents giving this reply is
<br />shown in the full set of responses included in the tab “Complete data”. However, these responses have been removed from the
<br />analyses presented in the reports. In other words, the tables and graphs display the responses from respondents who had an
<br />opinion about a specific item.
<br />Contact
<br />The City of St. Anthony Village funded this research. Please contact Nicole Miller of the City of St. Anthony Village at
<br />nicole.miller@savmn.com if you have any questions about the survey.
<br />Survey Validity
<br />See the Polco Knowledge Base article on survey validity at https://info.polco.us/knowledge/statistical-vali
<br />* See AAPOR's Standard Definitions for more information at
<br />https://www.aapor.org/Publications-Media/AAPOR-Journals/Standard-Definitions.aspx
<br />* Pasek, J. (2010). ANES Weighting Algorithm. Retrieved from
<br />https://web.stanford.edu/group/iriss/cgi-bin/anesrake/resources/RakingDescription.pdf
<br />* Targets come from the 2010 Census and 2020 American Community Survey
<br />Unweighted Weighted Target*
<br />Age 18-34
<br />35-54
<br />55+
<br />Hispanic origin No, not Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino
<br />Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino
<br />Housing tenure Own
<br />Rent
<br />Housing type Attached
<br />Detached
<br />Race & Hispanic
<br />origin
<br />Not white alone
<br />White alone, not Hispanic or Latino
<br />Sex Man
<br />Woman
<br />Sex/age Man 18-34
<br />Man 35-54
<br />Man 55+
<br />Woman 18-34
<br />Woman 35-54
<br />Woman 55+
<br />Analyzing the data
<br />Responses from mailed surveys were entered into an electronic dataset using a “key and verify” method, where all responses are
<br />entered twice and compared to each other. Any discrepancies were resolved in comparison to the original survey form. Range
<br />checks as well as other forms of quality control were also performed. Responses from surveys completed on Polco were
<br />downloaded and merged with the mailed survey responses.
<br />The demographics of the survey respondents were compared to those found in the 2010 Census and 2020 American Community
<br />Survey estimates for adults in the City of St. Anthony Village. The primary objective of weighting survey data is to make the
<br />survey respondents reflective of the larger population of the community. The characteristics used for weighting were age, sex,
<br />race, Hispanic origin, housing type, and housing tenure. No adjustments were made for design effects. Weights were calculated
<br />using an iterative, multiplicative raking model known as the ANES Weighting Algorithm.* The results of the weighting scheme for
<br />the probability sample are presented in the following table.
<br />NRC aligns demographic labels with those used by the U.S. Census for reporting purposes, when possible. Some categories (e.g.,
<br />age, race/Hispanic origin, housing type, and length of residency) are combined into smaller subgroups.
<br />.
<br />Methods
<br />Selecting survey recipients
<br />All households within the City of St. Anthony Village were eligible to participate in the survey. A list of all households within the
<br />zip codes serving St. Anthony Village was purchased from Go-Dog Direct based on updated listings from the United States Postal
<br />Service. Since some of the zip codes that serve the City of St. Anthony Village households may also serve addresses that lie
<br />outside of the community, the exact geographic location of each housing unit was compared to community boundaries using the
<br />most current municipal boundary file. Addresses located outside of the City of St. Anthony Village boundaries were removed
<br />from the list of potential households to survey. From that list, addresses were randomly selected as survey recipients, with
<br />multi-family housing units (defined as those with a unit number) sampled at a rate of 53 compared to single family housing
<br />units.
<br />An individual within each household was selected using the birthday method. The birthday method selects a person within the
<br />household by asking the “person whose birthday has most recently passed” to complete the questionnaire. The underlying
<br />assumption in this method is that day of birth has no relationship to the way people respond to surveys. This instruction was
<br />contained in the introduction of the survey.
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