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Citizen focus – citizen surveys
There are a number of government agencies that survey their citizens to obtain feedback on the quality and outcomes of the services provided to them. Such surveys are a good way of obtaining a relative sample of how the government is, or is not, doing to achieve its goals and to meet citizens needs.
“Surveys of various stakeholder groups are a key mechanism for obtaining data on citizen or customer satisfaction and service quality characteristics, such as the perceived timeliness of service delivery or courtesy of the personnel providing services. Surveys can also provide key information about customer behavior resulting from certain services (such as obtaining a job after participation n a job training program). Such surveys should appeal to an agency that wants to be, and be perceived as, customer focused. In addition, surveys can and should seek from respondents specific information about service problems and suggestions for service improvement.” (Morley, Bryant, Hatry. Comparative Performance Measurement. 2001: p. 53)
“Customer and citizen surveys are (likewise) used when other data can’t tell the whole story. …in some agencies that serve the public, citizen/customers are asked to fill out questionnaires rating the service they received while visiting a particular arm of government. Even more broadly, citizen surveys are increasingly being used to get some sense of how government is doing in achieving larger societal goals… Finally, the customer satisfaction survey is also being more frequently used to gauge the quality of internal governmental operations.” (Walters. Measuring Up. 1998: p. 78)
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