Opt In reached another milestone this week when the 8,000th participant joined the online public opinion panel. Launched in January with the goal of recruiting 10,000 participants, Opt In engages people in shaping the future of the Portland metropolitan area. Participants complete one or two short surveys each month on topics of regional concern.
Opt In has hosted six surveys to date, on topics including the urban growth boundary, transportation, and the Oregon Zoo. Panel members are also invited to suggest topics for future discussion. The next survey – coming soon - will cover business and the economy.
While private entities have undertaken similar opinion research, Metro is among the first public institutions to engage residents in ongoing online public opinion polling. Participation in Opt In surveys has been an impressive 40 to 70 percent – a typical response rate to an online or telephone survey is between 10 and 30 percent. In a time of decreasing budgets, Opt In provides one tool to get public input more efficiently and effectively.
Despite rapid growth and good participation rates overall, however, some demographic groups are not adequately represented on the panel. Metro and its partners are now focusing their outreach efforts on minority communities, politically conservative residents, those with varying degrees of educational attainment, and Washington and Clackamas county residents to ensure these voices are heard.
You can track our progress and help grow Opt In membership by inviting people you know:
Participation in the Opt In surveys is completely voluntary and anonymous. Metro and its partners only receive aggregate results from Opt In’s host, DHM Research, an independent, non-partisan public opinion firm in Portland.