Community Survey

Purpose

In 2016, the City of Fayetteville conducted a Community Perceptions Survey.

The purpose of this survey was to assess Fayetteville residents’ perceptions of a variety of aspects of City life, including public parkland, public safety, neighborhood cohesion, civic engagement and arts and culture opportunities. In addition, respondents were asked to prioritize a number of potential goals, programs or projects that could promote economic, environmental and social sustainability in Fayetteville.

In addition to providing a wealth of actionable data for City officials, staff and community stakeholders, the survey gathered data on a number of the STAR Communities Outcomes and Action items. Fayetteville has adopted the STAR Communities guide as a tool for self-assessment and goal setting. The STAR Communities guide requires that cities collect citizen perceptions in a number of areas that are difficult to quantify outside of a survey such as neighborhood-level safety concerns.

2016 Community Survey Results report cover image with icons of Environment, Economy, Climate, etc

Results

The results of the survey were shared with the City Council and Administration during the February 28th Agenda Session and during their strategic planning sessions in late February. 

Results were shared with City government stakeholders including the Police Department; Parks, Natural Resources and Cultural Affairs; Communications; Transportation; and Engineering. 

These data will help set priorities for development, improvements and programs in the years to come.

Results:

2016 Community Perceptions Survey: City Council Presentation on Feb 28, 2017 by Peter Nierengarten

Select results by subward:

Bike Safety map for Fayetteville with red to green zones for each ward (Subject unlabeled)

View raw data:

Raw Data (icon of magnifying glass over computer screen with a graph on it)

View survey comments:

Thought bubble icon

Rationale: 

While existing data offers insight into the health and cohesion of our community (voting rates, access to healthful food, proximity to medical care, etc.), the city of Fayetteville has not recently assessed resident perceptions of community life.

The most recent community survey was completed in 2010 by the University of Arkansas and collected data for the region as a whole. Previous Citizen Surveys had been conducted by the City of Fayetteville to gauge resident’s goals, funding priorities and perceptions of City life. The last Citizen Survey was administered in 2007. The 2016 Community Perceptions Survey revisited many of the previous Citizen Survey questions and focused on Fayetteville residents instead of the Northwest Arkansas region.

In addition, as relatively small municipality, Fayetteville does not appear in many National Databases that measure quality of life indicators such as volunteerism, art and culture participation or neighborhood cohesion. The 2016 Community Survey aimed to provide data in each of these categories.

Finally, Fayetteville has adopted the STAR Communities guide as a tool for self-assessment and goal setting. The STAR Communities guide requires that cities collect citizen perceptions in a number of areas that are difficult to quantify outside of a survey such as neighborhood-level safety concerns. 

Additional Documents

  1. Online Survey Collector
  2. Paper Survey Collector
  3. Question Bank
  4. Survey Methodology & Distribution Methods