With another resident survey coming to a conclusion, the door for creating a new blog post emerged. Now, let’s open up word before piling my sentences through copilot (AI might be a focus in here…)
Here’s the cheeky plug to our ‘2024 Resident Survey Reports and Dashboard’ to view before or after reading this blog.
What is the resident survey?
The Essex Resident Survey is Essex County Council’s largest survey exercise, designed to gather insights into residents’ aspirations, views, and values. This information helps shape strategy, inform key delivery programs, and enhance our engagement with residents. With over 5,500 residents responding to the 2024 survey, we can better understand the diversity of views and experiences across various geographies and cohorts within the county.
The questionnaire covered eight topic areas:
- Local Area
- Sustainable Growth
- Environment
- Food Waste
- Physical Activity
- Wellbeing
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Household
As a result, we created various reports for internal and external stakeholders. These reports, available on our Open Data page, delve into the numbers, using statistical inference to draw conclusions and comparisons. For instance, 87% of Essex residents felt very/fairly safe when outside in their local area during the day. However, this percentage is statistically (95% confidence interval) lower in districts like Basildon and Harlow, prompting the question, “Why is that the case?”.
What is the purpose of a Researcher, like myself, in local government?
I'm always asked by family/friends on what I do, and my response is, “I help the organisation better understand the needs, lives, and views of residents, populations, and communities across Essex.” The resident survey is a prime example of this! Evidence-based practice is at the heart of our working culture. Like all our work, the resident survey asks the right questions, ensuring we gather valuable insights to inform our strategies and programs.
It’s also a great opportunity to show my love for analytics/visuals, which brings us onto the dashboard itself.
Enhanced and Streamlined: The New Dashboard
Collaboration was the focus last year (2023 blog post), and I decided to take it further by evaluating feedback and building a dashboard that was slicker, better, and more efficient.
By the way, the raw data Excel file for the survey was 5,600 rows long, with around 600 columns! R Studio was used to pivot the data into something easier to understand (the R code is about 1,000 lines long, so that's a conversation for another time). With the data now pivoted with consistent columns, the beauty of Power Query in Power BI came into effect, enabling us to merge data from 2023. Now, with the push of a button, we can switch between 2023 and 2024 data within the dashboard.
Another slick change has been the implementation of bookmarks in the dashboard. Space is always a problem in Power BI, so it’s handy to know about bookmarks. After studying the experts over at ‘Guy in a Cube,’ I created a “Trick Menu” to allow users to open a navigation menu and hop around the various dashboard sections and questions. I’m sure someone will appreciate it—it took a good day or two to get it working.
What did I find interesting…
As mentioned at the start, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a main focus, especially with the use of AI in the workplace becoming the norm. Therefore, the section on ‘Attitudes towards AI’ was of particular interest to me. What does the Essex population think of AI? Do they want more of it? Are they worried?
It’s good to know that 97% of residents have heard about AI, but 13% admitted that while they had heard of AI, they could not explain what it is. Additionally, 27% gave a score of 0-3 when asked about AI having a negative impact on society, with this percentage being higher among those aged 45-64. Could this be because younger generations are more exposed to technology than older generations? These are important questions to consider when understanding the impact AI is likely to have on residents.
Have questions?
If you want to ask me questions on the resident survey, or even fancy looking at the other cool projects I do, do add me on LinkedIn (Christopher Final) 😊.
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