Veterans Transportation Community Living Initiative
Community Engagement Guide
This resource includes a description of community engagement activities plus
advantages, disadvantages and recommendations for their use. Following your review
use the Community Engagement Checklist to help you determine which activities will
work best in your community.
Survey
Questionnaires provide an opportunity to obtain information from respondents by asking
specific questions and analyzing their answers.
Advantages
 Standardized answers make it simple to analyze data
 Analysis of web-based questionnaires can be relatively inexpensive
 Distribution via Email requires minimal effort (once approvals to distribute are
obtained)
 Minimal effort is needed to Email questionnaires to large numbers of people
 Placing questionnaires in public places (e.g. transit center, community events) is
inexpensive
 Open-ended questions give respondents the opportunity to provide feedback
beyond what is asked in the questionnaire
Disadvantages
 Standardized answers can frustrate respondents
 Analysis of paper questionnaire responses can require a significant amount of
time
 Distribution of mailed paper questionnaires can be costly
 Response rates are commonly low
 Analysis of open-ended questions can be costly
Recommendations
 Work in partnership with Military and Veteran Service Organizations
 Questions must be very carefully worded in order to obtain the desired
information
 Questionnaires must be accessible (e.g. large print, Braille, audio, foreign
language)
 Telephone surveys provide an accommodation to respondents with limited
reading or writing skills
 Mixed mode (using more than one survey method) can increase the response
rate
Focus group
Focus groups provide an opportunity to obtain information from a group of individuals by
asking questions and analyzing their answers. Participants often build on each others’
comments and free-flowing conversations can reveal unexpected information.
Advantages
 Participants answer questions posed by the focus group facilitator
 Focus groups allow participants to engage in free-flowing conversations often
providing information beyond the questions posed by the facilitator
 An experienced focus group facilitator can draw deep information from
participants
 In-depth information can be obtained from an active participant group
Disadvantages
 Analysis of focus group comments can require a significant amount of time
 Selecting a location, date, time of day, and distributing invitations requires staff
resources
 Focus groups may not yield the intended results without an experienced focus
group facilitator (e.g. some participants may dominate conversations, discussions
can get off topic)
Recommendations
 Work in partnership with Military and Veteran Service Organizations
 Questions must be very carefully worded in order to obtain the desired
information
 Sign or foreign language interpreters may be required and these services carry a
fee
Listening Session
Listening sessions provide an opportunity to obtain information from individuals who
accept your invitation to make public comments in an open forum. Decision makers
form a panel and listen to the comments of individuals. Panel members can choose to
comment or not comment on individual’s presentations.
Advantages
 Individuals present comments on issues that are important to them
 Listening sessions can solicit feedback on a wide variety of issues
 Individuals that participate believe that they have a chance for their voice to be
heard by decision makers
 Experienced moderators can organize a session where, for example, 20
individuals (speaking 3 minutes or less) can deliver comments in a 60-minute
period
Disadvantages
 Individuals can feel frustrated with the limited time period, if they do not believe
their comments are taken seriously, or if panel members do not engage in
conversation following their presentation.
 Analysis of listening session presentations can require a significant amount of
time
 Selecting a location, date, time of day, and distributing invitations requires staff
resources
Recommendations
 Work in partnership with Military and Veteran Service Organizations
 Publicize ground rules on the invitation and at the session (e.g. Speakers will be
limited to three minutes, panel members will or will not ask follow-up questions)
 Sign or foreign language interpreters may be required and these services carry a
fee
Key Informant Interviews
Key informant interviews provide an opportunity to obtain comprehensive information
from individuals with great expertise in a one-on-one meeting.
Advantages
 In-depth information can be obtained from individuals with extensive knowledge
and expertise
 Individuals that participate believe that they have a chance for their voice to be
heard by decision makers
 Interviewing a wide array of key informants provides multiple viewpoints and
responses to questions
 Key informants have the knowledge and skills to offer their own potential
solutions
 Key informants have the knowledge and skills to provide feedback on your
potential solutions
Disadvantages
 Key informant interviews require staff time and can be costly
 Setting up meeting times and dates requires staff resources
 Analysis of key informant comments can require a significant amount of time
Recommendations
 Work in partnership with Military and Veteran Service Organizations
 Identify current transportation customers to serve as key informants
 Assure key informants that their comments will be kept confidential and that their
name will be not be associated with any quotes used in your report
 Advise key informants of the purpose of the interview, the questions you will ask,
and how their comments will be used prior to the interview
Customer Comment Cards
Customer comment cards provide an opportunity to obtain information from individuals
by asking questions and analyzing their answers.
Advantages
 Standardized answers make it simple to analyze data
 Placing paper comment cards in public places (e.g. transit center, community
events) and on vehicles is relatively inexpensive
 Analysis of web-based comment cards can be inexpensive
Disadvantages
 Customers may not notice comment cards
 Customers may not be interested in completing and submitting comment cards
 You may receive comment cards from customers who are extremely satisfied or
dissatisfied with service
Recommendations
 Work in partnership with Military and Veteran Service Organizations
 Create a comment card with questions specific to the information you need for
the VTCLI project
 Design and implement a campaign to solicit comment card use
Online dialogue
An Online dialogue provides an opportunity to obtain information from individuals by
posting questions and analyzing their answers. Using the Internet to hold a virtual town
hall forum permits participants to pose and answer questions, share ideas, and vote for
their favorite topics. Analysis of participant posts permits organizers to ascertain trends
and explore new ideas put forth by the community.
Advantages
 Participants answer questions posed by the online dialogue host
 Participants can pose their own questions and obtain answers from others
 Real-time counts of top vote getters and top topics are made available to all
participants
 Active participants can provide in-depth information
 The software generates analytics for easy review
 The VTCLI technical assistance team is providing online dialogue tools and
guidance for VTCLI grantees
Disadvantages
 Participants must have access to the internet
 Since participants have the opportunity to post their own questions, others may
respond to their questions and ignore those posted by the online dialogue hosts
 Those hosting an online dialogue must invest time and resources to design,
publicize, implement, maintain and report dialogue results
Recommendations
 Work in partnership with Military and Veteran Service Organizations
 A moderator can monitor and remove inappropriate posts
Community Engagement Meeting
Hosting a one to two day meeting with key stakeholders gives community leaders the
chance to work in partnership with each other to gain a deeper understanding of the
needs of the military community, the complexities of providing transportation services
and identify realistic solutions. Communities can design a community engagement
meeting to meet their needs using resources from the VTCLI. An on-site facilitator may
be available to work with communities interested in hosting a community engagement
meeting.
Advantages
 A community engagement meeting can result in fruitful, long term relationships
between the military community and transportation professionals
 Participants are guided to reach consensus and adopt solutions together
 Unknown leaders and subject matter experts often surface during meeting
discussions
 The community engagement meeting ends with a written plan to guide the
group’s future activities
 An experienced, external facilitator can guide the process before, during and
following the meeting
Disadvantages
 A community engagement meeting requires a significant time commitment
planning
 Active participants may forgo other community engagement opportunities due to
the time they contribute to this meeting
Recommendations
 Work in partnership with Military and Veteran Service Organizations
 Use the VTCLI resources to plan and carry out the meeting