What is the ‘What matters to you’ survey?
The ‘What matters to you’ survey is a way of providing an annual snapshot of quality of life (QoL) in Wiltshire. It gives residents an opportunity to voice their opinions about quality of life issues close to their hearts and opinion about public services.
Why did you pick me?
All postal addresses were selected at random from a central database. You had no more or less chance of being selected than anyone else. Many who choose to respond have an interest in their quality of life, may have concerns about a particular service and want their opinions to be heard and make a difference. Email addresses came from existing lists.
How did you get my address?
We have access to the names and addresses of all people in Wiltshire through what is called the Postal Address File.
How did you get my email address?
We have for the first time used a commercially sourced email list as well as email addresses from residents who have given their details over at meetings and local area boards.
How can this be confidential when you ask for my postcode and house number?
We use the postcode to map response across Wiltshire so we can see if there are any patterns emerging – it will not be used to identify you and in any event we do not ask for your name unless you are willing to give this to us to help us perhaps in some more detailed research. Only a limited number of people are able to access names and addresses, and we never store your personal information (name and address) and your responses together. We are interested in looking at trends across the whole community; we do not study individual responses.
Can I give this to someone else to complete? It seems much more relevant to them.
The questionnaire can be answered by any adult in the household it is addressed. Please feel free to discuss the questions with other members of your household or friends or they may fill in the questionnaire on your behalf), but make sure all the answers relate to you.
Do I have to complete the questionnaire?
It is not compulsory to complete the questionnaire, but it would help us if you could.
Isn't this very expensive to carry out?
A very small part of the overall council budget is set aside to look at people's experiences of public services and to tell us what needs improving. All design and analysis of the survey is undertaken by existing council staff in the research team. Only the inputting of the results is done by a third party who is skilled and equipped to do this. The only extra cost is therefore around postage and printing. Email surveys are in effect free and that is why we are encouraging as many as people possible to fill out the survey on line.
I'm having difficulty filling out this questionnaire.
If you would like help, we can complete the questionnaire over the telephone. Please telephone us on 0300 456 0100 and leave your name, a short message and your daytime telephone contact number. We will call you back and help you to complete the questionnaire.
What types of questions are included in the survey?
The survey asks questions about residents‟ local area, their lifestyle, health and personal details including ethnic origin, age and postcode of their home address. Within the survey key questions will be asked each year in the same way, so trends over time can be monitored. Question responses are analysed by topic (indicator), by demographic group and by postcode and community area.
How many questionnaires are sent and how many people respond?
We want at least 400 people per community area to respond. There are 20 community areas in Wiltshire that the council and other public services use for planning purposes based around our market towns. We are sending out around 25,000 by post and a further 15,000 by email.
How are the results used?
The council and it partners will use the results to feed directly into their plans to not only establish spending priorities, but also how see where they will work together to improve those things that residents have identified. The survey will help answer the question “how well do local priorities express community needs and aspirations?” This along with the Community Area Joint Strategic Assessments (CAJSAs) that have been developed (and which seek to set down all the relevant facts and statistics about an area and the key issues facing communities) should for the first time allow us all to concentrate on the key issues in an area.
Will my details be passed to anyone else?
This survey and the answers to all questions remain strictly confidential as governed by the Data Protection Act and all staff members at Wiltshire Councils research team adhere to the Market Research Society’s Code of Conduct.
Where do I get a large print / foreign language version from?
Alternative versions of the survey are available in a large print format if required. It is not economically viable to print large numbers of surveys in a range of languages.
Why ask personal details?
It is often the case that different types of people have different opinions about things so, by asking certain questions, we can analyse the results by gender, age or say ethnic group.
Last updated: 10 November 2011
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