C2ER COVID-19 Member Survey
On March 10th of this year, C2ER distributed a survey—to both members and non-members—with the goal of exploring how respondents were addressing and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey remained opened until April 1, accruing 105 responses from C2ER members and 101 additional responses from non-members.
Question 1 asked respondents how their organization been gathering information about customer needs related to the COVID-19 crisis. About 88.3 percent respondents listed national or local news as the primary source for their organization’s information. 78.2 percent of respondents listed collaboration with partners as a primary data source. Administrative data was flagged by 45.1 percent of respondents as a key source of information, while phone interviews with customers and clients and mass surveys received 41.3 and 26.2 percent, respectively. Several respondents added additional comments, many referenced partnering with local or state governments, social media outreach, and independent research.
Question 2 asked respondents how their organization is primarily using (or planning to use) the data that it has generated. 77.9 percent responded that the information is being used to guide their organization’s programming to help either workers or employers to respond to the disruption. 71.6 percent answered that they are using the data to provide general information to the community about the impacts of the disruption. 61.3 percent expressed that their organization would use the collected information to provide help to those impacted by the crisis. Additionally, some respondents added more detailed comments. Most common among these additional comments were those concerning increasing public awareness about the crisis and using the data to partner with local or state governments.
Question 3 asked respondents what further analysis, if any, their organization plans to do with the data it gathers about COVID-19’s economic impacts. The plurality of respondents, 65.2 percent, indicated they would use the data to guide business or workforce assistance program design.52.2 percent responded that the data would inform disaster relief policy response. 50.7 percentsaid they would be providing descriptive statistics about economic disruptions and impacts of the crisis. 37.8 percent said they would use the data as a jumping-off point to further in-depth research. 32.3 percent said they plan to make their data available to analysts for future research. A few respondents listed additional actions they would take, many listed increasing public awareness through the use of their data as a key element of their plan.
Question 4 asked respondents how the crisis has disrupted their research team. 87.4 percent of respondents stated that the crisis has forced them to telecommute. 14.6 percent responded that the crisis has led to a reduced workload. 14.1 percent answered that the crisis has reduced their computing capacity as workers have more limited access to high-capacity computers while telecommuting. 6.3 percent of respondents expressed that the crisis has resulted in reduced analytical capacity, as workers are increasingly taking leave. Some respondents added more detailed comments that the crises increased research need and therefore increased their workload.
Additionally, 60 percent of respondents answered that their organization had not taken any specific actions so far in response to COVID-19 that they think is particularly unique or has helped them to do their job better. 57 percent of respondents indicated that their organization had a pre-existing telecommuting policy before the crisis began.
Additional detail, including breakdowns by membership status and size of research team, are available at https://www.c2er.org/covid-19/.
Written by Gabe Moss, C2ER Staff