Survey of Capitol staffers targets information sources

An online survey aimed at legislative and executive staffers in the Capitol and the Legislative Office Building is under way to determine how staff members get their information and how they communicate with their members’ constituents.

The confidential and anonymous questionnaire is available at http://www.strategyone.net/capitolsurvey/index.php. It will be available through Friday night.

The 20-question survey , a joint effort by Capitol Weekly, the Edelman public relations firm and StrategyOne research, ask the staff members to describe what sources of information they rely on most in their decision-making, including the traditional print and broadcast media, the Web-based new media and blogs, emails, newsletters, texting, press releases, advertising and microblogging systems, such as Twitter.

The survey also asks staffers how they communicate with their bosses’ constituents, whether through letters, phone calls, in-person visits, emails and Web site comments, among others.

The project is similar to the Capitol Staffers Index surveys hat Edelman and StrategyOne have conducted with congressional staffers in Washington, D.C., and in Brussels, Belgium, where staffers in the European Parliament were surveyed.

It is the first time the report has been compiled in Sacramento. The link to the survey questions will be live online for about two weeks. The results of the questionnaire are scheduled to be made available by the end of the month.

The Sacramento survey asks respondents to rank the effectiveness and reliability of their information sources, to describe the top online sources they use when they are developing policy analyses and to identify the times during the day when they most frequently receive information, among a number of other factors.

The survey will give a glimpse of “the data that supports the recommendations that are being made,” noted Steve Telliano, general manager of Edelman’s Sacramento office.

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Ed’s Note: Updates earlier to show that survey will be avialble online through Friday night.