Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Best Practices

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Aug 1, 2014, at 10:15 AM, Susan Adams <sadams430 [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> I think it's a great idea, and I would be happy to help with it.  First
> step though, in my opinion, would be to get a professional to design the
> questions, types of answers, and possible answers.

what the professional would do is sit down with a focus group and discuss 
issues to identify "data points", design a questionnaire, have a group fill it 
out, and discuss their reactions and responses with them. Then redesign again. 
Repeating the process if felt necessary.

Having a professional look at wording and phrasing might be a good idea and the 
last expensive part of the process. Even a copy editor, would be helpful. There 
are many people in coho-kingdom who contribute time to do this part.

Emailing as many people in each community as possible -- get distributors -- 
will help you get a good sample. We have had so many questionnaires over the 
years that the people who know  the most are the least likely to fill one out. 
So you need to make it a good questionnaire and agree to post the data and the 
explanation of the means of measuring it in a publicly accessible place.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org