We are living and businesses are operating in extraordinary times. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people in our communities are suffering and the agencies and organizations we work with have been disrupted because of the measures being taken to fight and contain the pandemic. Everyone is uncertain about the future
Everywhere, everyone is asking the same questions:
- How long will it last?
- How bad will it be?
- What will be the lasting impacts when the immediate crisis is over?
Unfortunately, the answer seems to be the same in all three cases—we don’t know. The only information we have is that most experts believe, and we agree many things are unlikely to return to “normal.” Instead, we are likely to have a “new normal” comprised of some things that are the same as before, some positive changes and some not so positive lasting effects.
Many of our clients (public agencies and organizations) are asking us two questions:
Should we be doing research or community engagement right now?
Public agencies and organizations have four choices regarding the strategies they should take during the current crisis. The chosen strategy drives the need for research and community engagement as well as the type of research and community engagement to implement:
Assume that the current situation is temporary and that things will return to pre-pandemic conditions within the next three to six months. Close for all but essential business and wait to determine the impacts and make plans when things are “normal” again.
No immediate need for research and community engagement as it is likely that anything you do will be outdated by the time you are ready to use it.
Assume that the current situation will unwind in the next few months or up to a year and that the operating environment will change. In the meantime, slash spending, proceed with current plans, and do nothing new until it is clear what changes are lasting and which are temporary.
Limited need for research and community engagement.
Conduct essential ad hoc research
Plan for a survey or community engagement when you reach what you consider to be the new normal to see how times have changed
Assume that now is the new normal and it will be this way for a while. Review budgets. Begin to think about what has changed, what are immediate needs, and what needs to be done to address these immediate needs.
Some need for focused, fast turnaround research and community engagement to “catch up” with these change.
Exploratory research to understand current environment and identify community and customer needs in the current environment
Establish new baseline / benchmark measures
Focused research to develop / test strategies
Assume that the current situation will be fluid and the future uncertain for some time to come. Be agile now and make immediate, necessary changes to understand your population and customer needs and address the current operating environment. Assume that that the past and current operating environment will be forever changed and quickly work to understand priorities, what to stop doing and what needs to be done to meet future demands and requirements. Continue to look forward.
Significant need for strategic and ongoing research and community engagement
Establish current baseline measures on key metrics
Establish new baseline measures on key metrics
Identify immediate areas for change
Explore / test possible strategies / actions
Implement actions / strategies
Measure impact on key metrics
Will results be valid?
The short, simple but somewhat qualified answer is YES. Any research study will provide results that reflect the current attitudes and behaviors of those responding. As always, however, the key to whether the results are reliable or valid is in how the research is designed and implemented. For research results to be reliable, any significant research result must be more than a one-off finding and be inherently repeatable. For research results to be valid, the sample must be representative of the target population, the questions asked must be clear and unbiased, the analysis must be appropriate for the data, and results must be clearly presented and explained.
One of the operative words above is current. A reliable and valid research study can provide you with a picture of what is happening today—i.e., what people think and are doing in the current environment. To determine if the research you are conducting today is valid, ask yourself these questions.
Are the attitudes and behaviors I am asking about likely to be affected by the current environment?
Go Ahead! Results are likely to be valid.
Do I want to know what people are currently thinking or doing?
Do not conduct research / engagement at this time.
It depends. What are you trying to achieve? See below.
Do you intend to take immediate action / make temporary or permanent changes based on current attitudes and behaviors?
Go ahead. Results are likely to be valid and useful for decision-making.
Do not conduct research / engagement at this time.
Do you want to explore attitudes and behaviors are likely to change in the future?
Proceed with caution. Predictive research is difficult, especially if future is uncertain / unknown.
Do not conduct research / engagement at this time.
ComEngage Provides Solutions
ComEngage provides a solution for organizations to proactively and continuously engage with your customers and the publics you serve in key business decisions to get you ahead of the curve. ComEngage is comprised of three components:
- A strategy team to help clarify and articulate how and when to engage with your community
- Access to a best-in-class technology platform providing everything from community management to analytics
- An all-access pass to our data sciences and strategy team to transform complicated data into rich, ease to comprehend insights
What’s the story you want to tell? ComEngage.US offers the opportunity to gather and benchmark key metrics such as the direction your city is headed while at the same time building a representative sample of residents who are willing to engage with your city on an ongoing basis to provide insights to help move these key metrics in the right direction.
