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Home | Cultural Surveys | Methodology
Methodology
One of the main components of the cultural inventory involved the construction and implementation of a two-questionnaire survey instrument. The survey was meant to deal with the overall question who and what is out there and what are they up to? This endeavour was not meant to be irrefutably evidentiary in nature; rather it was meant to be an inferential snapshot of the state of affairs and the perception of the state of those affairs within Edmonton's cultural community. This was a baseline survey aimed at generating further interest, debate, and research.
One questionnaire was designed to target individual respondents who are cultural practitioners in Edmonton. Cultural practitioners are individuals who are professional and amateur artists and/or arts support workers and/or heritage workers. The second questionnaire targeted Edmonton's cultural organizations. Cultural organizations are organizations which, by their activities, produce and support and stimulate the production of art and heritage, and safeguard artistic and heritage product and resources as part of their operational mandate.
Target Sample
Male and female Edmontonians who were of legal age (minimum 18 years of age) or older (there was no maximum age limit) as of 9 July 2007 and are active professional or amateur cultural practitioners were the target sample for the individual respondent questionnaire.
Officially recognized cultural organizations and branch locations of cultural organizations of all stripes and sizes located in Edmonton were the target sample for the organizational questionnaire.
Some individuals, by virtue of being individual cultural practitioners as well as in a position to officially speak on behalf of an organization, were, if they so chose, free to complete both the questionnaires. Undoubtedly, many did just that.
Sampling Strategy
While it was hoped that as many respondents as possible would complete the applicable questionnaires, there was no predetermined number of respondents targeted. Since this was a voluntary participation targeted demographic (i.e., not employing random sampling principles) survey, it was thought unnecessary to predetermine a specific number of respondents. However, during the preliminary survey construction phase it was determined (based on Edmonton Arts Council and Heritage Community Foundation) internal estimates of the overall number of individual cultural practitioners and recognized cultural organizations operating in Edmonton) that for the individual respondent questionnaire 400 to 500 respondents would suffice, while 70 to 100 respondents would be sufficient for the organizational questionnaire. The final number of individual and organizational respondents, respectively, was 471 and 88. The data collection period was 9 July 2007 to 30 September 2007.
Questionnaire Administration
The administration methods for the questionnaires were two-fold:
- Hard copy mailout version
- Online version
The online questionnaires were the central data gathering method in this survey. This is so because the online version offered a number of advantages to the respondent as well as from the data analysis standpoint. Because the online questionnaire was easy to use and had automatic skip logic built into the system, the respondent was able to complete it quickly and avoid the sometimes intimidating process of manually navigating through a questionnaire booklet. From the data analysis perspective, the online questionnaire allowed for instant ongoing summary data analysis, and eliminated some of the need for manual data entry.
However, the individual respondent questionnaire was also available in a hard copy format. To that end, questionnaire booklets were made available for pickup through the Edmonton Arts Council office as well as through a mailout. The decision to make the hard copy version of the questionnaire available to only the individual respondents was motivated by the admittedly subjective assumption that there would be a proportionally higher number of potential individual respondents, as compared to the organizational respondents, who might appreciate the "pen to paper" method, regardless of the level of their computer literacy. The mailout distribution process involved mailing out the questionnaire booklets to 298 potential respondents. The addresses for this mailout were provided by the Edmonton Arts Council (EAC). The EAC and the Heritage Community Foundation promoted the survey through engaging the media, networking with stakeholders in the cultural community, and word of mouth.
