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Appendix A – Is the survey representative of the community?

Yes, this survey is representative of the community.  There are a variety of ways of comparing the survey participants to the community. We match many of the most important demographics, these being gender, households with children, and voters. Those who take our surveys are very similar to the voting demographic, though we under-represent the renters and those who are under 35. This also means those who vote do under-represent the age demographic. In other words, young people don’t vote nor do they take surveys in the same proportion as those older and wiser do. (grin)

We did an analysis of how each demographic compares to each other. For example, we looked at the renters vs homeowners to see if there were any differences of opinions on policy questions. If there was, then we would need to either flash a big warning about how our survey under-represented the renters, or we would need to use the over-sampling technique we describe on our website. However, we found no significant difference in opinions between homeowners and renters on policy questions. Their answers were very closely aligned. For this reason, we have not made any adjustments to our survey report, nor do we issue a bold warning. We simply state that the survey under-samples the renter.

With that said, we wonder about the census numbers for renters. Orcas Island has a large population that spends many months off-island. From prior surveys, we have found that about 25% of the population considers themselves residents but spends less than full time on the island. Sometimes, these seasonally homeowner-occupied homes are rented out for part of the year. The Census counts who is in the house as of April 1 as the occupant.  A full explanation of how the census counts people can be found at: https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2010/resid_rules/resid_rules.html

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also notes that anyone who pays rent to themselves is classified as a renter. https://www.bls.gov/cex/research_papers/pdf/ce_ownerhousing.pdf. Page 235. This might happen if you own the home but rent it out part of the year. You may classify the home as a rental property. That may happen more frequently on Orcas Island than in other parts of the country. We suspect (but cannot prove) that for these reasons, the Census numbers for the number of renters on the island are high, since any survey respondent who chooses to rent out their property will report to us that they are the homeowner.

The survey and the community are very closely matched on gender and households with children. The age is a good match to those who vote, but we do under-represent those under the age of 35 in the voting demographic and general population. Again, we detect no significant disagreements on policy between those who are under 35 and the other age demographics.

We are unable to determine a match for the property value demographics, as many people own property under multiple names, including trusts.