Your sample size data is not representative.
Director of Product Innovation, Marisa, shares our newest solution, civicX.
When I launched co:census in 2020, I was excited to bring the world a tool that could facilitate making community engagement more equitable. We started simple: text message surveys.
Text message surveys are more conversational, accessible to people with different abilities, can reach people regardless of WiFi access, and on our platform we have seen response rates as high as 60% with text message surveys. Compared to other survey methods, the exceptionally high response rates we've achieved make text message surveys feel like a game-changer for more inclusive community engagement.
And it was – but after those initial projects, I realized we still had a major problem to solve. The data itself.
Quality Data for Planners
For urban planners and transportation teams leading community engagement, the goal is to engage the community and get feedback on their needs. Time after time, I'd hear the same questions from planners:
“How many responses do I need for this feedback to be good?”
This is the greatest question to ask when it comes to community engagement. Let’s be clear here: a survey is not engagement. The trust and relationships built along the way, and what you do with the survey results, is. Hence why we encourage omnichannel engagement and promote multiple streams of feedback on co:census (meetings, online and text surveys, interviews, etc).
For community engagement, you need representative data.
If it’s not representative data, it does not matter. You can engage the community on the street, ask them to respond to surveys, and host community hearing meetings — but if you have the same twenty people showing up to all of these events and responding to your surveys, you are not getting quality feedback.
The feedback you gather can have major implications on a project; and historically, design and planning projects have resulted in racist and biased outcomes that do not support the diversity of the city you are planning for.
The answers to your biggest questions are in the lived experience of the community; but how can you measure the feedback you received and know it actually reflects the diverse and intersectional lived experiences of the people there?
We need representative data. Which means we have to break up with the concept of sample size. I became obsessed with solving this problem. There had to be a better way - one prioritizing inclusion, participation, and equitable representation of community voices. One that didn't treat people like mere data points but embraced the richness of their lived experiences.
That's when the idea for CivicX formed.
Sample size data is a market research hack. It may be scientific in nature, but it yields inequitable and irresponsible design. Yep, we said it.
Sample size data is a so-called “technique” that helps anyone analyzing data to generalize information. It’s the tool that leads people to create stereotypes and monoliths of communities.
If you are using sample size data or focusing on only getting X number of responses for all of your community engagement activities — stop immediately, because you are doing it wrong. Reaching diverse communities takes work. You have to meet people where they are, not expect them to come to you. Large sample sizes don't ensure inclusivity. Feedback must represent community diversity.
Get Representative Feedback with civicX™ alpha.
Screenshot of civicX dashboard. Dashboard will be different for every user, based on their inputs.
Let’s ban sample size data and the sample size calculators they come with.
Let’s try something new: civicX.
civicX is a new co:census solution that challenges the status quo of the historical community engagement framework. civicX completely reimagines outreach by focusing on diversity, equity, and representation. We make it easy to connect with excluded groups and amplify voices that have gone unheard for too long.
civicX supports you in building a process for designing equitable sms surveys*, understanding the real-time levels of community engagement with the survey, and facilitating ongoing public conversation around the survey outcomes.
How civicX works
civicX alpha will be available to a limited number of users. Sign up here for our waitlist to be among the first to try this new solution from co:census.
The results won't come overnight, but I believe civicX can help move things in the right direction, toward more inclusive and equitable community engagement.
*civicX is launching in alpha (first version), with only SMS surveys as we refine the solution with your feedback.
I invite you to join our waitlist to experience the civicX difference.
Let's reimagine community engagement, together.
