City Services Satisfaction Survey 2005 City Services Satisfaction Survey | Page 3

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The City of Arlington was interested in conducting a survey among city residents to examine perceptions of quality of life in Arlington and neighborhoods, to assess current perceptions of city services, in terms of perceived importance vs. satisfaction, to identify areas where the City is perceived as doing well and areas where improvement may be needed, and to examine perceptions regarding city budget priorities. The objectives of this survey, and the questions asked, were different from previous waves of an annual citizen survey conducted since December 2000, but key overall measures were retained for comparison. Much of this survey was patterned after a survey conducted by the city of Bellevue, WA. METHODS A total of 450 telephone interviews were conducted among residents within Arlington city limits. Within this sample, quotas were set for gender, age and zip code to ensure an accurate representation of the city’s population. Random-digit sampling was used primarily. (Some supplemental purchased listed sample was used to fill quotas in a few zip codes that are difficult to target using random-digit sampling.) All respondents were age 18 or over and live within Arlington city limits, excluding Dalworthington Gardens and Pantego. Half were male and half were female. Dates of interviewing were December 9 through December 21, 2004. A copy of the questionnaire, along with further discussion of data collection and data processing procedures, is presented in the Appendix. Decision Analyst, Inc. 3