The more things change ...

The recent merger has brought several new clients to WYSAC’s Survey Research Center (SRC), but no change in the continuing flow of return business from satisfied former clients. For example, this fall a readership survey was conducted for The Sheridan Press, replicating a telephone survey first administered in 2000. The newspaper uses the survey results to improve customer service and to respond to the consumer marketplace for news media.

Another steady client is the Wyoming State Bar. Every election year the SRC assists with the Bar’s judicial advisory poll of its active in-state members. The results of this mail survey supply performance feedback to judicial officials, and help to inform voters. The Bar’s website (www.wyomingbar.org) currently hosts results from both the 2002 and 2004 surveys.

Among the larger repeating projects are statewide surveys for the Department of Political Science at the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and the Substance Abuse Division (SAD) of the Wyoming Department of Health. The first of these includes pre-election and post-election polls administered every election year. The 2004 edition used random digit dialing to interview more than 600 Wyoming households on current policy issues. All respondents were then contacted again after the election for a follow-up survey. The Wyoming Department of Transportation enlisted the SRC to perform the WYDOT Statewide Customer Satisfaction Survey, an encore of the 2002 baseline survey. Again reaching over 1,500 Wyoming households by telephone, this statewide survey covered highway construction, highway maintenance, driver’s licensing, airports, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, and WYDOT public communications. Comparative analysis of the two surveys showed increases in satisfaction in a number of areas -- positive results for the resource allocations and policy decisions that WYDOT had made in response to the 2002 findings.

The SRC has just completed the second iteration of a statewide Adult Tobacco Survey (ATS), under a contract with SAD. This biennial standardized telephone survey covers a wide range of tobacco-related topics, including smoking, smokeless tobacco use, cessation, and knowledge and attitudes concerning tobacco. Involving more than 2000 completed interviews, the Wyoming ATS is one component of the national monitoring system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also dovetails with another WYSAC project, which for several years has analyzed data from an on-site survey of restaurants throughout the state to track their policies regarding smoking by patrons and employees.

Survey helps Thermopolis get block grant

The town of Thermopolis has been awarded a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $48,000 by the Wyoming Business Council. Eligibility for the grant depended on establishing that at least 51% of those who would benefit from the project have “low to moderate income” according to guidelines from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Repairing a broken water main under a particular neighborhood in Thermopolis would clearly benefit the residents of that neighborhood, but the U.S. Census does not provide income data at the neighborhood level.

In April the SRC undertook to contact every household in the neighborhood for a telephone interview, and then followed up with a mail-out questionnaire to every household not interviewed by phone. Eventually, an outstanding response rate of over 92% was achieved. The SRC’s analysis of the data showed conclusively that the neighborhood indeed qualifies as predominantly low to moderate income, a finding that allowed Thermopolis to secure CDBG funds for the water main project.

The Thermopolis survey has generated interest by other Wyoming communities for similar work. WYSAC is already under contract for a 2005 study to assess CDBG eligibility in one Wyoming town, and discussions are on-going with another. To avoid any possibility of biasing the survey results, the names of those communities are being held confidential until the surveys are completed.

News 2005

Wyoming Head Start, State Collaboration Project Evaluation 2004-05

Abstract of WYSAC Technical Report No. SRC-522

In July of 2005 the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND) contracted with WYSAC to assist with the annual evaluation of Wyoming Head Start’s State Collaboration Project (SCP). WYSAC designed a questionnaire for telephone administration to a small number of SCP constituents. During November and December, WYSAC contacted all 31 individuals identified by WIND for participation in the survey, including 20 staff members and directors of Head Start programs around the state, 6 administrators of relevant statewide entities, and 5 parent representatives to SCP. Through repeated calling, 25 interviews were completed, for a response rate of 80.6%.

WYSAC’s report summarizes some key findings from the survey, followed by percentage tabulations for all items on the questionnaire. The report concludes with several appendices that provide the responses to open-ended questions on the survey. In brief, the results show room for improvement in SCP’s communications, although several respondents pointed out that strides in that direction had already been made during 2004-05 by the project coordinator. Concern about partnership with the Wyoming Department of Education was a recurrent theme. Effort might also be devoted to increasing Head Start’s representation on statewide boards, such as the Wyoming Early Childhood Development Council.

News 2007

Analysis to Assist with Pricing the America the Beautiful Pass

The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004 authorized a new recreation pass (the America the Beautiful Pass) to replace the Golden Eagle Passport and the National Parks Pass. These existing annual passes cover entrance to federal lands that charge a fee for recreational use. In May of 2005, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the Interior issued a national call for scholarly assistance in examining possible prices for the new pass. In June the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center submitted a project proposal. In July the federal agencies selected the WYSAC research team to provide the assistance requested, through a Cooperative Task Agreement (number H-1200040001) under the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit.

Less than a year later, in June of 2006, WYSAC presented results from this multi-faceted research effort at a meeting in Washington, D.C. to policy makers from the federal land management agencies. In December, the new pass was officially announced, and on January 1, 2007, the America the Beautiful Pass went on sale at federal recreation sites, over the Internet, and through selected third-party vendors.

The project included focus groups held around the country, in-person interviews with officials of several state park systems and Parks Canada, a national telephone survey with two distinct samples, and an econometric analysis of the survey data to estimate the demand curve for the pass across a wide range of possible prices and to assess the corresponding revenue implications.

The full reports on this project can be viewed or downloaded as PDF documents from the website of the U.S. Department of the Interior:
http://www.doi.gov/initiatives/recreation_feeprogram.html

From there, scroll down to “New Interagency Pass Program” and then to the bullet point for "University of Wyoming study on pricing the new recreation pass".  The first document in that list summarizes the entire project; the remaining documents provide details on the rest of the work. There is also background information about recreation fees elsewhere on this same website, as well as the December news release announcing the new pass.

Also see the University of Wyoming's Press Release at:
http://www.uwyo.edu/news/showrelease.asp?id=12942

Project Team