Call For Proposals
Guidelines for Proposal Submission for National Surveys of Local Government
Deadline: June 15, 2021
Survey Fielded: October 2021
A. Upcoming Surveys and Deadlines
October 2021 Surveys
Apply by June 15, 2021 to survey one or more of the following positions:
-
Policymakers
-
Top Appointed Officials
-
Clerks
These surveys will be conducted in October 2021.
B. Proposal options
Each proposal is limited to no more than four minutes of survey content. You can see the sample size and pricing options by position below. Pricing is based on the total available respondents for each position.
Survey Type | 100 respondents | 200 respondents | 500 respondents |
|---|---|---|---|
Policymakers* | $300 per minute | $600 per minute | $1500 per minute |
Clerks | $500 per minute | $1000 per minute | NA |
Top Appointed Officials | $700 per minute | $1400 per minute | NA |
* Includes top elected officials (e.g., mayor, county executive) and legislators (e.g. councilmember, commissioner)
C. Survey of Interest
After considering the position and sample size options, please complete this very brief (non-binding) survey of interest to let us know you may be applying.
D. Components of a proposal
The proposal (single-spaced, 12-pt font) should include the following two items:
1. 1-page cover letter. This should briefly state your research question and motivation. Informal citations are okay but not required. This letter should also specify your choice and justification of sample size.
In addition,
a. If you are including an experiment, please include a justification for the experiment as well (experiments are permissible but not encouraged − see section F below).
b. If relevant, please specify additional auxiliary data about the localities of the respondents that are not provided in the Standard Delivery Items that you would like merged to the response file (subject to additional fee).
2. Annotated questionnaire. This is the core of the proposal. This should be a clearly structured word document with three subcomponents:
a. Fully developed questions (each with a clear heading).
b. Point values for time estimation, using this rubric.
c. Additional specifications or details, if necessary. This could include embedded variables (e.g., government_level which displays “municipality,” “township,” or “county,” depending on the respondent type) or the randomization of questions, answer order, etc.
E. Content Requirements
The proposal must meet the following three requirements:
1. Questionnaire does not exceed the 4-minute time limit.
2. Questionnaire is engaging and user-friendly. This means that it is:
a. Easy to follow.
b. Neither overly provocative nor likely to induce annoyance or anger.
c. Relevant to the respondents’ jobs as local officials.
d. Not designed to pursue behavior change.
3. No deception (explicit hypothetical situations are okay).
F. Content Recommendations
CivicPulse offers three recommendations to engage local officials and help maintain long-term panel participation. Based on feedback from respondents, we recommend……
-
Descriptive questions over survey experiments. Experimental modules are permissible, but they need to be justified and should be non-intrusive.
-
Open-ended questions that allow survey respondents to explain their opinions.
-
Projects that have the potential to generate insights that would be useful to local officials.
G. How to submit
Please submit your proposal by emailing info@civicpulse.org. The subject of your email should be “CP Proposal: [Last Name], [First Name]”. The file name of your submission should be “LastName_FirstName_CPproposal” and saved as a Microsoft Word Document.