Wanted to sign up for being a part of focus groups but RCSC has not responded to my questions. The call for participants just said you had to be available all day which is ridiculous--you should be able to sign up for a block of time and one needs to know where they will be held since not all of us have personal transportation....Anyone have any more details?
This should help you…signup for your preferred date, sessions are only 45 minutes. ASU will contact you after March 14 and assign your time & location. If you can’t make it, decline, stuff happens! Thanks for choosing to participate. Your Participation in the "Next Step" is Requested RCSC is excited to announce the next stage of the ASU/RCSC community project, which included the RCSC survey that ended February 6. Several small 45-minute Focus Group sessions will be created and led by Arizona State University personnel at the end of March in which all Sun City AZ residents may participate. The number of participants that respond will determine the number of Focus Groups created. Focus Groups will be asked a set of questions relating to the Sun City AZ community. If interested in participating before 5pm, you will need to be AVAILABLE ALL DAY on one of the dates below and will be assigned a date/time/location to appear: Saturday, March 25 Monday, March 27 Wednesday, March 29 Session times/locations will be assigned after Tuesday, March 14 via email depending on feedback and participant availability. Focus Groups will not exceed 8 participants and will be based on length of residency in Sun City. If you would like to be a Focus Group participant, please send an email to pcorsino@suncityaz.org no later than 4pm on Monday, March 13 with the following information: Name Number of Years in Sun City AZ Phone Number Email Address Date you are available all day (March 25, 27, 29) Mention if you are available only after 6pm Your initial email will be confirmed by RCSC, but you will then be contacted by an ASU representative after March 14 with further instructions. Let’s continue to FOCUS ON THE FUTURE together! (From RCSC Tuesday 03.07.23)
This experience with the $50+k ASU/RCSC survey is very disappointing. Not expecting much confidence in results when presented.
Yes, Thank you. They want participants yet keep crucial info from them until after they commit. Guess they assume we have huge openings in our schedules. NOT!
If I’m “assigned” an inconvenient time and/or location, I’ll just decline…I did request daytime with explanation of concern about lack of security in RCSC parking lots after dark! (Lack of technology to provide!)
Based on the survey itself and comments above, my expectations are very low. But I absolutely signed up anyway and encourage everyone to do so. Things get done by those that show up!
Right there with you, Jeb…hopeful assignment is manageable. These Focus groups are our two-cents vision casting opportunity!
I signed up and have a confirmation letter from RCSC. I agree that the survey was a waste of time, but possibly some posative result will come from these groups. If I can't attend when they schedule me, I'll decline.
I signed up too. Told they will be grouping us with people who have been in SC for a similar # of years.
Does anyone find it curious as to how we came about using ASU for this survey in the first place? It seems to me that we should have used a company that specialize in surveys, like surveyMonkey, IntelliSurvey, Global Survey, etc. I think most people would be more apt to fill out a survey if it takes them five minutes or less. I am consistently getting surveys from many of the events or businesses that I have recently frequented. It is usually sent within 1 or 2 days after I have used the service. Everything is fresh in my mind and quick and easy to fill out. Also, why are we paying ASU to do this? I think this should be part of a thesis project or internship that the students decide to do. I am also curious to hear how many people responded to be on the focus groups. Also, how did they choose who would be selected to be a part of the focus groups and what criteria did they look at when dividing respondents into each group? Did anyone get rejected, and if so, what was there reason?
It's hard to know how they determined what groups we are placed in; the only real information that could determine groups was length of time in SC. Hopefully 45 minutes with a group of 8 will gain us something.
GD, Not sure you are aware our Long Range Planning Committee tried to push a survey years ago and too many Board members were against it and said we needed a 'professional' survey. No idea why ASU was selected or, like you said, why we are paying them - especially given the questionable 'professionalism' of the survey. As to length, I'm ok since previous Boards have been ignoring things for so long. Of course, repeating questions made it longer than necessary - lol. I 100% agree going forward they should be pushing shorter surveys more often - maybe once a month or for every major topic (5-10 questions?). I believe they said everyone who volunteered would be selected - they would create as many time slots as necessary. And as Linda said - groupings will be be length of residency - but not sure why.
Welcome Green Dragon, great to have you join us. Lots of good points as this process has been flawed from near on the start. I saw the survey prepared by the long range planning committee and it was clear and to the point. The problem was, they asked about green space (golf courses) and that terrified some on the board and i suspect management as well. It was before the pandemic and before golf's resurgence when it was the only game in town (and when management found they could sell a boatload of half-price tee times to outsiders). Someone correct me if i am wrong or mistaken in what i recall hearing last year. I thought when this 56k survey was being shoved through, the GM argued they went with ASU because they had done a similar survey in Sun City West and had the expertise. I'll have to go on the RCSCW website and see if i can find any data relative to it. I can't envision it was done as poorly as ours was. Interestingly enough i am reading through the Sun City Home Owners Association from the mid-90's. OMG, it's like a bible and filled with data. Still early on but the title is "Study For The Future" and was done by a professional survey firm out of Oxford Mississippi. I'm reading the results from a 1000 resident phone surveys that included 85 questions. This was just one of 10 methods they used to reach both residents and businesses. John Meeker used surveys constantly as DEVCO wanted to know what residents thought as they tried to shape the community to their liking. What a novel idea, using the members to determine future needs and wants rather than letting one person decide what was best for them. I am really hopeful these focus groups are more personal and on point than the scatter-gunned questionnaire. We'll see eh?
