Options on the table for enhanced Saskatoon civic surveys

Five options, which could possibly bring changes to Saskatoon’s civic surveys, are on the table at Wednesday’s governance and priorities committee.

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A report to committee says two online surveys go out annually — the civic satisfaction and performance survey, and the civic services survey: performance, priorities and preferences.

It said the size of each survey is 800-plus online panelists, and is a random sampling designed to be representative of Saskatoon’s population based on age and gender.

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The report pointed out some under-sampled demographics which included Indigenous people, people of colour, people with disabilities, and households with incomes under $40,000.

Survey analysis also doesn’t take into consideration these demographics, instead breaking down question responses based on age, gender, and whether you live on the East or West side of the city.

It was noted that finding a sample size of 800 people was difficult, and that trying to oversample underrepresented people could make the pool of willing participants smaller.

The first option, which is the recommendation from city administration, is to maintain the status quo with the census data.

“The recommended option maintains the integrity of the annual civic services survey, by continuing to have random sample representative of Saskatoon’s population based on age and gender,” administration said. “Some improvements can be made with enhanced demographic reporting and analysis for each question in both surveys beyond age, household income, gender, and side of the river.”

The second option adds additional reporting for all 10 wards.

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This expansion would cost about $10,000 per survey, and administration said a funding source would be needed.

It added that while this addition to surveys would create some satisfaction and performance results by ward, an additional four weeks would be needed to deliver the results, and the margin of error for ward reports would be higher than the overall city results.

The third option builds upon the second option by having additional reporting for wards, but would also create more weighted categories beyond age and gender.

Income is listed as a third possible weighted category, with the report saying that a review of other cities showed a maximum of three weighted categories in their survey data.

The report warned that adding a new weighted category could cause shifts in results that wouldn’t necessarily come from real changes in public opinion. It added that comparing results to previous years wouldn’t provide an accurate representation.

The fourth option would maintain the status quo, but would have additional focus groups created with an emphasis on demographic groups like Indigenous people, low-income households and people living with disabilities.

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Trend analysis wouldn’t be affected, the report said, and it would be a way for the city to address some of the barriers to participation that some demographics may face.

The report said this would better reflect the diverse views in Saskatoon, but wouldn’t necessarily be representative of the entire group. It added that focus groups aren’t statistically reliable, more time would be needed to put these groups together, and the overall cost for this addition could range between $20,000 to $28,000.

The last option on the table adds ward reporting as well as focus groups, with the same issues and advantages listed.

It was noted in the report that surveys are just one of several ways to inform decisions about things like budgeting and service delivery, and that other city departments provide additional info that is more relevant to some demographics.

City administration said it could also possibly break down a number of questions of interest by ward that could provide councillors with more information.

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