CivicPanel – Results

Below you can view or download brief reports or summaries of CivicPanel (formerly eTownPanel) surveys.

New (CivicPanel) Reports

Survey Report #24: National Community Survey
(January 2012)
Presents findings of a CivicPanel online survey about how citizens evaluate local government services and how they obtain government performance information.

Survey Report #23: Symphony Giving Experiment
(January 2012)
Presents findings of a CivicPanel online survey experiment about giving to nonprofit organizations.

Survey Report #22: Government Process and Outcomes
(September 2011)
Discusses findings of a CivicPanel online survey about how citizens judge government performance.

Survey Report #21: Comparison Base Experiment (Hometown)
(April 2011)
Discusses findings of a CivicPanel online survey about how citizens judge local government performance.

Survey Report #20: Information Source Experiment (Middletown)
(March 2011)
Discusses findings of a CivicPanel online survey about how citizens judge local government performance.

Survey Report #19: Public Health Program Brief Report
(December 2010)
Focuses on citizen views of the performance of an HIV prevention program.

Survey Report #18: Hometown Brief Report
(September 2010)
Reports on ratings of street cleaning services in a hypothetical city named Hometown, based on a photograph and a statement by a city administrator.

Survey Report  #17: Public Sector Management, Trust, 
Performance, and Participation
(March 2010)
Replicates a survey conducted in Israel that focuses on citizens' views of the public sector and its employees.

Survey Report  #16: Social Entrepreneurship
(February 2010)
Examines citizen engagement and leadership in voluntary activities and community service.

Prior (eTownPanel) Reports

Special Report #15: Satisfaction with Local Parks
(December 2006)
Assesses how people use local parks, and how satisfied they are with various aspects of parks. Compares results to previous survey findings (see Special Report #5 and #10). Conducted in cooperation with New Yorkers for Parks.

Special Report #14: Neighborhood Noise and Its Consequences
(April 2007)
Presents ranking of noises that bother people most often, and assesses the behavioral and emotional consequences of noise. Compares results to previous survey findings (see also Special Reports #3 & #9). Conducted in cooperation with the Council on the Environment of New York City.

Special Report #13: Satisfaction with Local Beaches
(September 2006)
Discusses findings of an eTownPanel online survey about people’s use of and satisfaction with beaches, conducted in collaboration with New Yorkers for Parks. Survey focuses on frequency of beach use, ways beaches are used, rating of beach conditions and beach funding.

Special Report #12: Green Power
(July 2006)
Conducted in cooperation with The City University of New York’s Million Solar Roofs Initiative, this report focuses on general perceptions of energy use and cost, knowledge of green power, global warming and solutions for the energy problem.

Special Report #11: Neighborhood Problems and Quality of Life
(July 2006)
Fourth report on neighborhood problems and quality of life, including ranking of top neighborhood problems.

Special Report #10: Satisfaction with Local Parks
(February 2006)
Assesses how people use local parks, and how satisfied they are with various aspects of parks. Compares results to previous survey findings (see Special Report #5). Conducted in cooperation with New Yorkers for Parks.

Special Report #9: Neighborhood Noise and Its Consequences
(January 2006)
Presents ranking of noises that bother people most often, and assesses the behavioral and emotional consequences of noise. Compares results to previous survey findings (see Special Report #3). Conducted in cooperation with the Council on the Environment of New York City.

Special Report #8: Recycling Survey
(June 2005)
This report describes people's knowledge and awareness of recycling rules in their city and their recycling habits. Conducted in cooperation with the Gotham Gazette.

Special Report #7: Neighborhood Problems and Quality of Life
(June 2005)
Third report on neighborhood problems and quality of life, including ranking of top neighborhood problems.

Special Report #6: Satisfaction with Local Schools
(February 2005)
Citizen ratings of the quality of various aspects of their local public schools. Also covers attitudes regarding school financing. Conducted in cooperation with InsideSchools.org.

Special Report #5: Satisfaction with Local Parks
(December 2004)
Assesses how people use local parks, and how satisfied they are with various aspects of parks. Conducted in cooperation with New Yorkers for Parks.

Special Report #4: Neighborhood Problems and Quality of Life
(November 2004)
Second report on neighborhood problems and quality of life, including ranking of top neighborhood problems.

Special Report #3: Neighborhood Noise and Its Consequences
(December 2004)
Presents ranking of noises that bother people most often, and assesses the behavioral and emotional consequences of noise. Conducted in cooperation with the Council on the Environment of New York City.

Special Report #2: Local Emergency Preparedness
(July 2004)
Report on how concerned and prepared people are for a local emergency, such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

Special Report #1: Neighborhood Problems and Quality of Life
(June 2004)
Initial report on neighborhood problems and quality of life, including ranking of top neighborhood problems.

Published Articles

Portrait of the Social Entrepreneur: Statistical Evidence from a US Panel. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2009, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 129-140.By Van Ryzin, G. G., Grossman, S., DiPadova-Stocks, L., and Bergrud, E.

Social entrepreneurship is an increasingly important concept in the study of voluntary and nonprofit organizations. In spite of the growing recognition of this concept, little is known about what individual characteristics might describe or explain who in society is likely to be (or become) a social entrepreneur. This preliminary study empirically addresses this question using data from a United States online panel. Our results suggest that social entrepreneurs are likely to be female, non-white, younger, and college-educated individuals with some business experience and who live in big cities. Social entrepreneurs also tend to have more social capital, as measured by their activity in clubs and organizations other than work, and they are more likely to be happy, interested in politics, extroverted, giving (to charity), and liberal ideologically. Although exploratory, these findings help describe the social entrepreneur and suggest ways in which this important actor in civil society can be better identified, understood, and perhaps cultivated.

Validity of an On-Line Panel Approach to Citizen Surveys.  Public Performance and Management Review, 2008, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 236 - 26.  By Van Ryzin, G. G.

On-line panels of volunteer respondents have emerged as a new method of conducting surveys for market and public opinion research with substantial cost and logistical advantages over traditional mail or telephone surveys. However, because they are not based on probability sampling, the results from on-line panels raise serious concerns about their validity in terms of representing the characteristics or views of the population. With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the CivilPanel (formerly eTownPanel) project was created to test the validity of an on-line panel approach to citizen surveys about government performance. This article reports on the development of the project, including the growth and composition of the panel, and on the validity of its on-line survey results as defined by comparisons with established, randomsample surveys of public opinion. Implications of the findings for the practice of citizen surveys as well as for the study of public opinion about local government performance are discussed.

Importance-performance analysis of citizen satisfaction surveys. Public Administration: An International Quarterly, 2007, Vol. 85, No. 1, pp. 215-226. By Van Ryzin, G. G., Immerwahr, S.

This paper introduces the method of importance-performance analysis of citizen surveys, a useful approach to understanding citizen satisfaction with local government services. Using data from a US national online panel, we directly compare two approaches to importance-performance analysis: one employing an explicitly stated measure of importance, the other using a measure of importance derived from regression analysis. The different results that the two approaches give suggest that local government administrators and policy analysts arrive at distinctly different conclusions depending on which importance measure they use. These differences are illustrated by simulating the change in citizen satisfaction that would result from improvement in the top-rated services according to each measure. Research and policy implications are discussed.

 Exploring dimensions and determinants of citizen attitudes toward governmental transparency. American Review of Public Administration, 2007, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 306-323. By Piotrowski, S., & Van Ryzin, G. G.

The proper balance between governmental secrecy and open government is at the forefront of contemporary public debate. Citizens have different degrees of interest in and demand for governmental transparency. Using data from a national online survey of more than 1,800 respondents, we develop several indices to measure citizens' demand for transparency at the local level and explore its correlates. We also examine the correlates of citizens' reported requests for information from local government. The data and analysis suggest that there are several dimensions to the public's demand for transparency, including fiscal, safety, and government concerns, and principled openness. Age, political ideology, confidence in government leaders, frequency of contacting government, and especially the perception that there is currently not enough access to government appear to drive the public's demand for transparency, although determinants differ for each dimension. Some, although not all, of these factors also predict citizens' actual requests for government information.

 Testing the expectancy-disconfirmation model of citizen satisfaction with local government. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2006, Vol. 16, pp. 599-611. By Van Ryzin, G. G.

It is important for public administration researchers and practitioners to understand how citizens form satisfaction judgments regarding local government services. A prior study by Van Ryzin (2004) found strong support for an expectancy disconfirmation model of citizen satisfaction, which focuses on the gap between performance and expectations. This model has been tested for decades in studies of private sector customer satisfaction, yet it is little known and applied in the field of public administration. The present study seeks to replicate the Van Ryzin (2004) results, which were based on a telephone survey in New York City, using a nationwide sample and a much different survey methodology, namely, an online, self-administered survey of a national panel. In addition, this study tests the sensitivity of the results to two alternative measures of disconfirmation (or the gap between performance and expectations). Results using subtractive disconfirmation confirm the basic expectancy disconfirmation model, but results using perceived disconfirmation do not, calling into question the policy and management implications of the prior study.