A methodological assessment of ten years of Canada's citizen's first satisfaction survey research
By: Bruning, Ed.
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 2010Description: p.85-91.Subject(s): Public administration
In:
International Review of Administrative SciencesSummary: Several recent articles have commented on positive developments in Canadian public service delivery capabilities (Bent et al, 1999; Flumian et al, 2007; Kemaghan, 2009). Many of these developments have originated within the Canadian public service ranks in spite of the fact that decision-makers in top political offices have relegated sevice improvements to lower priority status (Alcock, 2009). Furthermore, public sector managers are interested in knowing how well citizens feel they are performing - what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve. Without question, demand for performance information is driven by public managers' desires to deliver better services to constituents, but demand is also increasing because public sector managers are being required to justify the use of scarce public resources. Thus, a review of just how well citizen surveys are constructed, implemented and interpreted could be quite valuable. In this brief comment I summarize the results of my methodological review of one of Canada's leading citizen surveys - Citizen's First Satisfaction Survey. The survey has progressed through five iterations, spanning the period from 1998 through 2008, and the sixth iteration is presently in the development stage. My comments begin by focusing on the structure and process involved in developing, fielding and interpreting the citizen's First (CF) instrument the specific research objectives are identified for each CF project. Methodological strengths and weaknesses of each project are then outlined, followed by a general assessment of CF's effectiveness from both technical and practical perspectives. - Reproduced.
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | Volume no: 76, Issue no: 1 | Available | AR87119 |
Several recent articles have commented on positive developments in Canadian public service delivery capabilities (Bent et al, 1999; Flumian et al, 2007; Kemaghan, 2009). Many of these developments have originated within the Canadian public service ranks in spite of the fact that decision-makers in top political offices have relegated sevice improvements to lower priority status (Alcock, 2009). Furthermore, public sector managers are interested in knowing how well citizens feel they are performing - what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve. Without question, demand for performance information is driven by public managers' desires to deliver better services to constituents, but demand is also increasing because public sector managers are being required to justify the use of scarce public resources. Thus, a review of just how well citizen surveys are constructed, implemented and interpreted could be quite valuable. In this brief comment I summarize the results of my methodological review of one of Canada's leading citizen surveys - Citizen's First Satisfaction Survey. The survey has progressed through five iterations, spanning the period from 1998 through 2008, and the sixth iteration is presently in the development stage. My comments begin by focusing on the structure and process involved in developing, fielding and interpreting the citizen's First (CF) instrument the specific research objectives are identified for each CF project. Methodological strengths and weaknesses of each project are then outlined, followed by a general assessment of CF's effectiveness from both technical and practical perspectives. - Reproduced.
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