About Town Surveys

Town of Blacksburg Survey 1999

Dr. Andrea Kavanaugh, Director of Research

Over the past five years, we have enclosed a survey questionnaire in 4,000 town government newsletters (About Town January 1994, April 1995, October 1996, October 1997, and January 1999). We selected random households within each census block within the town of Blacksburg; the number of responses annually is 332, 334 and 224, 202, and 172 respectively.

Respondents in the January Œ99 survey are roughly similar in profile to those of the previous four years. The basic profile is that of a well-educated middle-aged male or female who has been living in Blacksburg for about 14 years. Specifically, just over half (55%) of respondents is female; the average age is 45; 42% has completed graduate school. The majority (59%) is a member of a church or local club.

Trends over the past five years in computer ownership, use of electronic mail (proxy for Internet access), and computer and network literacy are shown below. There has been a steady rise in the use of a computer at home, with a leveling off at 81% in 1999. For computer and network experience, the table below shows the percentage reporting the two highest points on a four point scale (e.g., 'somewhat experienced' or 'very experienced'). The level of experience with computer networks has risen dramatically from only about a third (38%) in 1994 reporting they are somewhat experienced or very experienced, to 72% in 1999.

Interest in commercial services over the Internet took a big leap in 1999 from previous years. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of respondents reports in 1999 that they expect the Internet to be somewhat helpful or very helpful with commercial services. This is up from about a third (32%, 29%) in previous years. Interest in using the Internet for local news and information wavers between 50 and 60%. The percentage of respondents that expects the Internet to be somewhat or very helpful for online games remains low.

Electronic mail continues to be the most popular service among respondents in this survey, as in previous local and other national surveys. Also consistent with national trends, email with friends with friends and family predominates. The following table shows trends in the percentage of respondents that expect the Internet to be somewhat helpful or very helpful (the two highest points on a four-point scale) for email communication with other members of their social networks:

We would like to thank everyone who participated in this and previous surveys.