MALIBU—On Friday, May 31, the city of Malibu announced on its website that it is encouraging public participation as part of ensuring the city’s services, policies, programs and activities respond to the evolving needs and desires of the entire community.
The city of Malibu noted its goal is to engage the community on issues that are important in Malibu. The city partnered with FlashVote, a third-party platform renowned for its expertise in collecting statistically valid community input.
TO SIGN UP: To join the conversation and make your voice heard, visit https://www.flashvote.com/malibucity or call 775-235-2240 to participate by phone or text only.
Flashvote’s methodology ensures that, even with relatively low participation rates, the survey results will provide a statistically valid representation of the community’s views on a given subject. For example, with a population the size of Malibu’s, in order to get a five percent margin of error, a survey needs 384 respondents. To achieve a seven percent margin of error, just 195 respondents are needed.
According to Flashvote, the most common question about their methodology is “what percentage of our population do we need to hear from?” Only the total number of responses matters. A good target range is about 200 to 600 people regardless of the size of the population, as long as there is a valid scientific sample.
Keys to statistically valid surveys are: a large number of responses, respondents who are not self-selected to the topic (and therefore biased), and using well-structured, unbiased question and answer choices. Flashvote prevents “ballot stuffing,” or people voting multiple times to skew the results.
For more details on Flashvote’s methodology, visit: https://www.flashvote.com/margin-of-error.
Participants will receive a short one-minute survey every few months and will get to see full survey results within two days. FlashVote offers a user-friendly interface accessible via email, text or phone so participation is convenient and accessible to all residents.
FlashVote also makes sure the feedback received is always anonymous. In order to participate, an account must be created that involves sharing some personal information. Personal details are kept confidential and is not shared with marketers, advertisers or any other third parties. Flashvote utilizes safeguards to ensure data protection. The city of Malibu will not have access to users’ data.
Government agencies may only see your screen name, nothing else. By default, a screen name will be set to your real first and last name, but it can be changed to anything the participant wants. Emails sent by FlashVote by participants will disclose your name and email unless sent anonymously, which is an option.
For more details read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): https://www.flashvote.com/residents_faq.
By Trevor