Consultation Techniques
From GPG
A number of techniques can be used to consult the public - different techniques work with different groups, and produce different results.
For all techniques it is worth asking an expert's help with designing the consultation, writing the questions, and analysing the results.
Most authorities have specialist information gathering teams who will be able to help with any consultation you are planning, and may be prepared to carry out surveys on your behalf. You can also employ specialist market research companies or other experts to help.
If you do the work yourself remember to think about who are trying to reach, and target your approach to their needs not your own. Also think bout how you are going to handle the results - if you get hundreds of paper questionnaires who will type them in and who has the skills to analyse the results ?
See Kate Barber's (Accent Market Research) presentation to the national consultation seminar for more information on what you need to consider when collecting quantitative and qualitative data.
Contents |
Quantitative surveys
A number of techniques can be used to generate quantitative data, including on-line, telephone or face to face questionnaires.
On-line surveys
Many authorities have chosen to use on-line surveys to reach their target audience. These have the advantage of being relatively cheap to carry out, and the data is easy to handle as it collects in a database - there is no need to type the responses in.
A prize or other incentive is often offered to encourage people to complete the questionnaire. See Essex County Council's website where they offer a weekend break as a prize, and Durham County Council who offer a set of OS maps as a prize.
Devon County Council had a very short questionnaire on their website, presented in a very user friendly way to encourage people to participate:
"Countryside Competition - Do you enjoy the countryside? Why not enter our free PRIZE DRAW? By answering six questions you could a luxury Devon food hamper worth £100".
If you are considering an on-line survey points to bear in mind are :
- It will not provide a representative sample of your population, not everyone uses the internet and even fewer choose to respond to on-line surveys
- They are easily hi-jacked by lobby groups who can direct their members to complete the forms so the results may be skewed.
- They can provide large numbers of responses relatively cheaply, and are accessible to many people
- You will need to carry out some promotion to bring the survey to people's attention - do not expect them to just find it.
Essex County Council have on-line questionnaires targetted at different user groups, including landowners. While these are easily available on the authority's website they may not reach a representative sample of the groups they are targetting and should be backed up with other forms of consultation.
Telephone Surveys
Telephone surveys are frequently used by market research companies as they can be managed to ensure they reach a cross section of the population, so produce representative results. However they can be expensive as they are best done by experts.
They are particularly useful in drawing up a profile of path users and assessing the overall use people make of their local rights of way. This includes the age, sex and social group of path users, their awareness of the network, how far people travel and why and how often they use the network, for which activities and for how long. Because the interviews arehome based, the method is also a good way of assessing latent demand, for example from people who are prevented from using most rights of way because of their restricted mobility or because they lack the confidence or knowledge to do so.
Face to Face surveys
These can be done in the street, or on the footpath, or in other locations including in people's homes. Market research companies can be employed to carry out the survey and ensure an even spread of the community is sampled. However these techniques don't have to be done by experts - if you are doing a survey yourself you must consider how representative the results are likely to be, and be honest about that when you report on the results.
Quantitative techniques
Quantitative techniques are used to provide answers to specific questions, or to reveal more in-depth information. They are often used to fill gaps in the information collected using quantitative techniques, either by targeting specific groups or by asking specific questions.
Techniques include focus groups, accompanied visits, public consultation meetings and other tailored events.
These techniques can often reveal useful and interesting information, but it must be remembered that the views of people attending a public meeting may not represent the population at large. Focus groups can be representative if the participants are chosen carefully.
Cheshire County Council carried out focus groups to good effect to find out the views of disabled people. See " Amy Rushton's presentation on consulting mobility impaired users.
Holding a focus group involves bringing a small group (usually around 8 to 12 people) together for a "managed discussion" of a topic or set of questions led by a moderator. Although the small numbers involved means that the findings have to be used with caution, focus groups are valuable in "getting under the skin" of an issue and in developing a thorough, qualitative understanding of the particular subject. However, it is the skill of the moderator, in steering the discussion, ensuring that it remains focussed and enabling everyone to contribute, which is often the key to success. In the case of a ROWIP, a series of focus groups might typically be held with different types of path users or those who use rights of way for different purposes.
Qualitative techniques may also include desk based research into existing data sets. There is a lot of information already available which may answer many of your questions, and may prompt you to think about what local information you need to gather to support it.
For more information on relevant survey methods that might be used in ROWIP assessments see the report to the Countryside Agency Use and Demand for Rights of Way.
It is vital that people who have contributed to a consultation feel their time was well spent. Thanking them for their time, and making the findings easily availble are key to this. Castle Morpeth BC have an excellent web page giving full reports on their recent consultations.
Experience of the ROWIP demonstration authorities
Several of the related research studies carried out by the demonstration authorities made use of these methodologies to assess use and demand in practice, either in respects of the plan area in general or amongst particular groups of path users - see for example the reports of the research studies by Bedfordshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear MDCs at Outputs of the ROWIP Exemplar Programme.
Those authorities that carried out large scale surveys varied in their assessments of their value. Some felt that their survey, although useful, did not tell them much they did not know already, bring out any significant differences from the national trends, or (compared to other priorities) had been good value for money. But it was also clear - with hindsight - that the questionnaires used in these surveys had been too ambitious; they asked too many questions, were time consuming to administer and proved difficult to analyse. For others, however, the local questionnaire surveys that were carried out were felt to be both worthwhile and good value for money. They provided specific information about the scale of demand in the area and how the local community used their rights of way; information that was not otherwise available and which could be used to strengthen the political case for investment in the path network. The postal questionnaire survey by Hampshire (of 6,000 households, with 1,000 responses) was particularly successful, enabling key issues to be identified which were then explored in a programme of qualitative research.
There were no such reservations among the demonstration authorities about the value of the focus groups; all of the authorities whose research included them felt that the focus groups had been among the most valuable aspects of their improvement plan work. Comments included that the focus groups had been 'a revelation' and that it was a shame that the authority had not thought about using them years ago. They were particularly valued in highlighting the needs of "ordinary local path users" and getting away from the usual list of path user groups.
More guidance and information
More guidance and information about the different survey methodologies is given in report to the Countryside Agency Use and Demand for Rights of Way. The first part sets out some key national statistics from an earlier study by the Countryside Agency on use and demand for rights of way, together with information on the specific needs of different types of path user derived from focus groups held in connection with both national and local studies. The second part looks in more detail at the different survey methods. It gives advice on:
- the strengths and weaknesses of questionnaire surveys and focus groups
- commissioning both types of survey
- the special methods which may be needed to survey use and demand where the network is in a popular holiday or tourism area
- the preliminary work needed to draw together what is known already about the local path network to make sure any additional research asks the right questions.
Examples of a questionnaire used in a typical household survey and the script used to lead a focus group discussion are also given.
