A new large-scale community survey designed to track how opinions shift over time has been launched across Northern NSW, using a research method more commonly seen in major national studies.
The Big Shifting Issues Survey is being delivered by KORE CSR, the parent company of the New England Times and North Coast Times, and aims to build a long-term dataset of community attitudes across a wide range of issues.
Participants are being asked about cost of living pressures, healthcare access, infrastructure, social issues and political attitudes, alongside basic demographic and voting information to allow for deeper analysis.
Unlike traditional one-off polls, including the New England Times Engage Poll, this survey has been designed as a panel study, meaning the same respondents will be invited back to take part in future waves. This allows researchers to track how individual views change over time, rather than simply comparing different samples at different points.
Raphaella Kathryn Crosby, CEO of KORE CSR, said the approach would provide a much clearer picture of how regional communities are responding to ongoing economic and social pressures.
“A normal poll gives you a snapshot of what people think at a moment in time,” Dr Crosby said.
“A panel survey lets you see movement. You can track whether the same people are becoming more or less concerned about an issue, or other ways attitudes are changing.”
Dr Crosby said this was particularly important in regional areas, where conditions can shift quickly and are often experienced differently across communities.
“We know from our reporting that issues like fuel costs, access to healthcare and housing pressures are not static, and not experienced evenly across the region,” she said.
“What this allows us to do is move beyond anecdotal evidence and actually measure how sentiment is changing, and who it is changing for.”
While local views are the priority for the survey, those from outside the area are also welcome to take part, so that New England and North Coast views can be compared to those in other parts of the country.
The survey includes a series of short agree-or-disagree statements on national and local issues, as well as open-ended questions that allow respondents to explain their views in their own words.
Because the survey is designed as an ongoing panel, participants are required to provide identifying information such as their name and email address so they can be contacted again in future. All information will be stored securely and not shared with outside organisations.
Dr Crosby said building a consistent panel over time would strengthen both research and reporting.
“The real value comes after the second wave,” she said.
“Once you have a baseline, you can start to see trends emerge. You can test whether major events or policy decisions actually shift opinion, or whether people’s views are more stable than we assume.”
The survey will be conducted annually each April, with results from the first wave to be published in May.
Got something you want to say about this story? Have your say on our opinion and comment hub, New England Times Engage