Metro's new Opt In online panel has signed up more than 1,000 members, an encouraging participation milestone for the new research panel. Metro and three community partners launched Opt In last month to gather public opinion among residents of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area.
Metro’s goal is to attain a panel participant base of 10,000 by October 2011. The goal of the new panel is to provide a timely, cost-effective way for the region’s residents to provide input into decisions affecting them and their communities.
Building a large, diverse Metro research panel will allow the agency to conduct more in-depth polling for a lower cost, since a large part of a survey’s expense lies in gathering and maintaining an appropriate respondent pool. An innovative public-sector use of a research tool that has been highly effective in the private sector, the panel is hosted by Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall (DHM), a Portland-based consulting firm with extensive experience in public opinion research related to public policy.
Metro’s Opt In partners are playing a key role in broadening the panel’s enrollment outreach to include traditionally underrepresented communities and other residents who have been hard for Metro to reach. Respected organizations that are deeply connected to the community, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, Northwest Health Foundation, and Portland State University’s College of Urban and Public Affairs are helping Metro develop a panel that is more representative of the diverse communities and individuals in the Metro region.
During the Opt In panel’s initial recruitment period, Metro is offering membership incentives to new panel members. Eligible members who join the panel by Feb. 15 will be entered in a drawing for five $100 Powell’s gift certificates. More drawings for other prizes will take place monthly and as the Opt In panel hits enrollment milestones up to its goal of 10,000 members.
Participating in the Opt In panel is quick, easy and confidential. Panelists are invited to participate in one or two short online surveys each month about topics in which they have indicated interest. All personal and demographic information panel participants submit will remain confidential; Metro and its partners will receive only anonymous, aggregate reports of participants’ survey responses. That means private information stays private, while Metro derives important data and guidance from the opinions Opt In panelists provide.
The Opt In research panel is just one of Metro’s new online tools aimed at creating and sustaining online engagement with more of the region’s residents. The “Connect with Metro” section of Metro’s website provides ways to learn more and engage with Metro through newsfeeds, online calendars, Metro GreenScene and social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. These interactive tools in turn help Metro learn what is working and what could be improved. For more information, visit www.oregonmetro.gov/connect.