anuary 19, 2022—Next week, many local residents will receive a phone call from a polling firm asking questions regarding how they feel about life in the greater Beloit area. Their answers will help determine the future of our community.
This Quality of Life survey is being funded by Quint and Rishy Studer and conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, based in Washington, D.C. Mason-Dixon is coordinating with the City of Beloit, Downtown Beloit Association, Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce, Greater Beloit Economic Development Corporation, and Visit Beloit to develop questions and release survey results.
Its questions are designed to collect feedback about the general well-being and happiness of Beloit residents. The survey shows how people are feeling about various aspects of life, including employment opportunities, economic growth, education, confidence in local government, and the environment.
“The City of Beloit appreciates the work being done to help us get an accurate picture of where the community is,” said City Manager Lori S. Curtis Luther. “It’s important to know our opportunities and challenges as we create strategic plans for our city’s growth and success.”
As a highly respected independent polling and communications firm, Mason-Dixon conducts Quality of Life surveys in communities across the country and is known for having a high degree of reliability. Through the use of proven standards and methodologies, Mason-Dixon ensures accurate findings and designs surveys with a tight focus so they don’t overwhelm people. This results in objective data that’s hard to “spin.”
“Almost every community says that their main goal is to provide a great quality of life for their residents,” notes Quint Studer. “Yet very few cities actually measure it. And so I really believe that having an objective, valid measurement for the quality of life allows the community to celebrate where they’re in great shape, and also to look at where there may be areas to improve upon. So I really commend Beloit for having the courage to do this.”
The Quality of Life survey will allow the Beloit community to take a tailored approach to building a vision by getting clarity around the problems residents believe most need to be solved. This means the community is less likely to make costly mistakes. Because a good diagnosis also reveals the community’s bright spots, it gives residents something to celebrate.
Finally, having reliable metrics at the start of a process like this creates a baseline that the Beloit community can use year after year to monitor progress. The results of the survey will be publicly shared for the community to engage with and to highlight ongoing community needs and improvements.
Participants in the Quality of Life survey, which will start the week of January 24, 2022, will be randomly selected residents living in the 53511 zip code area and reached via a combination of landlines and cell phones. The sample will be designed to represent the demographics of the local population in terms of age, race and/or ethnicity, gender, income, and so forth. Results will be delivered to the community upon conclusion of the survey through a variety of communication channels.
While it surprises many people that this kind of survey is conducted over the phone rather than using a more high-tech method, Mason-Dixon has found that a phone call allows for more clarity and precision.
The surveys will come from a 608 number. Voice messages are not left (it’s inefficient and costly), but several attempts will be made at different times of the day. Once contact is made, respondents will have the option to take the survey at that time, schedule a call-back, or call an 800 number at a time of their convenience. We encourage individuals to share their views with the survey takers.
To learn more about the Quality of Life survey, please visit the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce website at https://greaterbeloitchamber.org/quality-of-life-survey/.
