Building Community vs. Community Buildings Survey Tabulation
From: Mac & Sandy Thomson (ganeshrmi.net)
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 10:54:01 -0600 (MDT)
A month or so ago I sent out a survey on this list.  The survey basically
asked folks who have recently moved into cohousing to evaluate how well the
group's time was spent on design work and community building work
(communication and meeting skills, relationships, celebration, etc).

I conducted the survey as part of an upcoming session at the Cohousing
Conference in Boulder called "Building Community vs. Community Buildings?".
The session topic is:  Would cohousing groups be better served spending more
time during their development stage on building community (communication and
meeting skills, relationships, celebration, etc) and less time on design
than has been the tradition thus far?  My other co-presenters are Matt
Worswick, Chuck Durrett, and Anna Amato.  We intend to have a lively
discussion/debate with plenty of audience participation.  If you'll be at
the conference and this topic interests you, please join us (Saturday
morning, 10:45 - 12:15, Library 1358).

I received 19 completed surveys and various other comments not included with
a completed survey.  Thank you!  Because of the small sample size, I've sure
that this survey has no real statistical validity, but I think the results
are of some interest anyway.

In terms of how groups spent their development time, on average, groups
spent their time as follows:
A)  Communication Skills:  6%
B)  Relationships:  5%
C)  Meeting Skills:  7%
D)  Conflict Resolution:  3%
E)  Celebration:  4%
F)  Site Design:  19%
G)  Common House Design:  17%
H)  Private Home Design:  28%
(I know these don't total 100%, but that's how the surveys were completed.)

As you can see, groups spent far more time on design work than community
building work.

In terms of whether the respondents thought the amount of time spent was
adequate, the surveys averaged:
A)  Communication Skills:  Somewhat Less than Adequate
B)  Relationships:  Somewhat Less than Adequate
C)  Meeting Skills:  Somewhat Less than Adequate
D)  Conflict Resolution:  Somewhat Less than Adequate
E)  Celebration:  Somewhat Less than Adequate
F)  Site Design:  Somewhat More than Adequate (Slightly Too Much)
G)  Common House Design:  Adequate
H)  Private Home Design:  Somewhat More than Adequate (Slightly Too Much)

I then asked how satisfied respondents were with the following and whether
it would have be worthwhile to spend more time on that work:
Overall Community Design:  Satisfied; More time? YES - 6, NO - 12

Decision Making Process:  Somewhat Satisfied; More time? YES - 10, NO - 4

Communication, Conflict Resolution, and Relationships:  Not Too Satisfied;
More time? YES - 13, NO - 5

So that's the results in a nutshell.  A more complete tabulation will be a
handout at the conference session.  I can email the comments from the
surveys to anyone that requests them.  They're an 11 page Word document.

Thanks,
Mac

-- 
Mac Thomson

Heartwood Cohousing
Southwest Colorado
http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com

"The most beautiful thing one can experience is the mysterious.  It is the
source of all true art and science.  He to whom this reaction is a stranger
-- who no longer can pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe -- is as good as
dead, his eyes are closed."
           -- Albert Einstein
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