2. Research Methods

This report is based on data collected from disadvantaged clients in North Dakota who are served by four Centers for Independent Living. The four centers are: Dakota Center for Independent Living, Bismarck, N.D.; Freedom Resources Center for Independent Living, Inc., Moorhead, Minn.; Independence, Inc., Minot, N.D.; and Options Interstate Resource Center for Independent Living, East Grand Forks, Minn. Each of the four centers serve approximately one-fourth of the counties in the state (Figure 2.1). A survey questionnaire was developed and sent to a random sample from each of the Centers for Independent Living. This chapter contains a description of the survey instrument design as well as the response rate.

Figure 2.1. State service area for North Dakota's four Centers for Independent Living.

2.1 Survey Instrument Design

A seven-page survey was developed and will be described in this section.⁶ The four Centers for Independent Living drew a random sample of their clients and mailed the surveys to their clients. Complete confidentiality was ensured as none of the names of the clients was released at anytime.

The questionnaire contained 34 questions. The first eight questions were designed to gather demographic information on each client. The next set of (five) questions related to the respondents ability to drive, the type of transportation they use, if public transportation is available to them, and if they use public transportation. The individuals not using public transportation were asked to stop completing the survey and to mail back their responses in a postage-paid envelope.

The next section of questions related to public transportation use, such as how frequently the respondent rides public transportation, the number of years they have been using public transit, purpose of their trips, and typical length of ride in minutes and miles. We also asked about how much they pay for a one-way trip. The last 11 questions were developed to better understand the respondents level of satisfaction with the transportation services available to them. For example, we asked if their public transit system does a good job of serving their needs. The respondents were provided a scale of 1 = strongly agreed with the statement, 2 = agreed, 3 = neutral, 4 = disagreed, or 5 = strongly disagreed with the statements. Each of the questions are presented in greater detail in the next chapter. Finally, respondents were given an opportunity to write other comments.

2.2 Mailings

The Centers for Independent Living selected a random sample from their mailing list of clients and mailed the surveys directly from their centers. The survey recipients were asked to complete the survey or if they were unable to complete it themselves they were asked to have someone in their household help them complete it. A postage-paid return envelope was included so the survey could be returned directly to the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute for data entry. There were 1,360 surveys mailed to the random sample selected by the centers (Table 2.1). Two hundred and eighty-five surveys were returned in the postage-paid envelopes. Not all of the respondents completed the full survey. Those who indicated they did not use public transportation did not have to complete the last half of the survey, which focuses on gathering information on the transit service used.

Ninety respondents indicated they use transit, yet 11 to 16 chose not to respond to the last 12 questions on the survey about the services. One hundred and ninety-five respondents indicated they did not use transit, yet 19 to 24 completed questions explaining characteristics of their quality of service. Therefore, 103 is derived by assuming some respondents missed the multiple choice on using transit and correctly responded to the section of the survey regarding quality of service (90 - 11 + 24 = 103) from their transit providers.

For analytical purposes, the survey data were separated and compared by age group, including, "young" for ages five to 20, "working" for ages 21-64, and "senior" for respondents older than age 65. The analysis was conducted primarily developing frequencies and mean values. Some chi-square tests were used to identify statistical significance between age groups. The next chapter contains the results from this questionnaire.