Social Research ¦ Market Research ¦ Behavioural Insight ¦ Evaluation ¦ SROI
Social Research ¦ Market Research ¦ Behavioural Insight ¦ Evaluation ¦ SROI
The aim of this research was to understand residents’ priorities and concerns, to produce insights to inform current and future service changes and campaigns, and to understand perceptions of services provided by the Council and their value for money.
M·E·L Research needed to provide methodological rigour based upon a recognised evidence-based engagement index, an ability to benchmark data with other councils and public sector bodies, an ability to correlate data across both surveys, an inclusive approach to research participation, a positive experience for residents taking part, creativity in question design to respond to emerging issues and clear and innovative communications of research findings, including post-survey analysis sessions.
The key research objectives of this project can be summarised as:
The questionnaire was designed to understand residents’ current priorities and concerns, to produce insights that can inform current and future service changes and campaigns and to understand residents’ perceptions of the services provided by the Council and their value for money.
The survey design contained some repeat questions from previous research conducted in 2017, to provide evidence on changes in attitudes compared to previous years. Data from previous years has been included where applicable, however it should be noted that the methodology of the previous surveys differed, as these were conducted by telephone rather than face to face.
A stratified random locational approach was used for sampling, with all Census Output Areas (COAs) per ward ranked by deprivation. The target number of interviews was 1,100. The final number of interviews achieved was 1,101, undertaken via in-person door-knocking.
We provided a full report in PowerPoint format to the Council, identifying key findings aligned to the objectives above, and highlighting comparisons with data from the LGA to help Harrow benchmark their performance.
Compared to the latest LGA benchmarking data, Harrow residents report similar or higher levels of satisfaction on all measures. Satisfaction with how well the Council keeps residents informed about services and benefits, satisfaction with parks and open spaces and satisfaction with library services are particular successes compared to the benchmarking data.
