Conducting Surveys in Remote Communities

Greg Smith, Senior Consultant

From the desk of Greg Smith, Senior Consultant :

Over the years we have conducted a number of surveys in small, remote, northern Aboriginal communities. These have included audience surveys for Aboriginal broadcasters, client surveys as part of evaluations of federal government programs; needs assessments (e.g. for community recreation programming or territorial services for hunters and trappers); and surveys of Inuit firms to update a Nunavut registry. Most of these involved trying to reach a range of individuals or representatives of organisations who live in relatively small and isolated communities - for example in Nunavut, Nunavik, and the James Bay coast of Ontario or Quebec.

These are very challenging because many of the communities are fly-in, which makes it extremely expensive to send someone for face to face interviews. Other challenges include that many in the target sample do not have a personal telephone or access to the Internet, which precludes web based surveys; they may be unilingual Cree, Inuktitut or other Aboriginal language speakers, or English/French may be their second language; their communities are subjects of a lot of research and consultation and so they are tired of responding or skeptical about the project goals and end use of information; and they are highly mobile, either within their communities and regions (e.g. extended periods on the land or in the bush, or for training or jobs in other communities). Even weather can be a challenge, preventing researchers and respondents from meeting to complete interviews. As a result, achieving a satisfactory response rate is extremely challenging. 

Below are some approaches we have developed, based on our experience:

• Preparation is important – this includes understanding and following community research and access protocols, obtaining appropriate permissions, and a research schedule which takes into account community events and priorities, and allows sufficient time for logistics (e.g. mail may take a couple of weeks, obtaining contact information may also take time), with contingency plans in case of delays. 
• Local promotion is important to raise awareness of the survey purpose, goals and results, as well as how these will be used. Community radio, where it exists, is a good way to inform people, and to describe how results will be shared with the community. 
• Multiple response methods encourage responsiveness. This may include a combination of options - interviews in-person or by phone, written responses via regular mail, e-mail, fax, and web-based questionnaires. 
• Simple and user friendly instruments are critical. These need to use as plain language as possible, questionnaires should be very concise and clearly presented, and in many cases they need to be translated to local languages and dialects. 
• Local fieldworkers, who know the community and the language, can assist with promotion, completion of in-person interviews, distribution and collection of questionnaires, and encouraging responses. 
• Training and ongoing support for local researchers is critical so they understand the research purpose, how the information will be used, and how to use the research tools. 
• A number of reminders and follow ups with those who have not completed surveys are usually required to achieve success. 
• Sometimes group sessions with potential respondents, if they are part of a known target group (e.g. clients of a particular program), can encourage participation and completion of questionnaires. 



The 2008 Inuit Firm Registry Survey
 had three response methods:
mail, fax, and email.

• Incentives may also be required, and are expected in some communities – for example all those who complete a questionnaire may be eligible for a draw for a gift certificate from a local store, or a cash prize. This needs to be organized in such a way that it does not compromise confidentiality requirements.