CivicPanel

Methodology

CivicPanel is an online panel of volunteers who sign up over the Internet to participate in our surveys. Panelists are recruited from Craigslist postings, Google ads, web directories, and announcements sent by email to members of various nonprofit organizations that have partnered with CivicPanel (formerly eTownPanel) over the years.

Currently, the overall size of the panel is about 20,000 people.

It is important to point out that the panel is not a random sample, and thus the results are not scientifically projectable to the larger population.

Survey results are, however, weighted by gender, race, age, and geography to more closely reflect the general demographic profile of the population.

The following documents provide more information on CivicPanel's methodology:

Panel size and participation (pdf) (through August 2010)

Demographic profile (pdf) (2011)

PPMR article on the project's methodology (pdf)

The article in the journal Public Productivity and Management Review (Van Ryzin 2008) reports on the development of the project, including the growth and composition of the panel, and on the validity of its on-line survey results as defined by comparisons with established, random sample surveys of US public opinion.

The documents above are PDFs and require Adobe Acrobat Reader.
(Free download available at www.adobe.com)

We partner with SurveyGizmo survey software for our research.