The question regarding neighbors satisfaction with the quality of parks and recreation programs and facilities is asked in each of the City’s Neighbor Surveys that has been conducted by a third party contractor, the ETC Institute, since 2012, administered annually between the months of October and December. ETC Institute ensures that the results are statistically significant, and representative of the population of the City, both demographically and geographically (by district).
In 2019 a total of 4,800 surveys were mailed to randomly selected residents. A total of 720 households responded to the survey through mail or on-line, resulting in a 15% response rate. The results have a precision of at least +/- 3.6% at the 95% level of confidence. This means that if the same survey was administered 100 times, 95 of those 100 times, the results would come back as they are reported here, within +3.6% or -3.6% of the results indicated. This also means that any changes that are equal to or greater than +3.6% or -3.6% in the survey data from 2018 to 2019 are considered statistically significant changes and can be attributed to actual changes in perceptions or satisfaction versus general fluctuations in the survey data.
The satisfaction reported is the combined ratings of very satisfied and satisfied responses.
ETC Institute develops two comparative benchmarks:
- Via a national survey to a random sample of more than 500 residents in communities with a population between 100,000 and 250,000 in the United States (US). The US benchmark for this measure was 72% in 2018.
- Via a regional survey to a random sample of 300 Florida residents. The Florida benchmark was 66% in 2018.
In 2020, the City changed how the neighbor surveys are administered. The annual Neighbor Survey was replaced with a Business Survey, and going forward they will be conducted every other year to solicit feedback from residents as well as the business community.
