Some Survey Techniques Can Lead
To Bias - Many Interviewed Do Not Live In Affected Communities
State Senator Toni Boucher (R-26),
Senate Ranking Member of the General Assembly’s
Transportation Committee, questioned the usefulness
of a recently completed survey being promoted by a
fellow legislator as proof of local support for building
a Super 7 highway.
“I understood that this study,
which was funded by Senator Duff’s caucus funds,
would analyze the environmental, financial and structural
barriers to a Super 7 highway. Instead, the money
was used to survey many people that do not even live
in the towns potentially affected by this outdated
proposal. The affected towns could pay for a similar
survey that produced very different results,”
said Senator Boucher.
Senator Boucher noted that Senator
Bob Duff (D-25) is vice chair of the Transportation
Committee and a long-time supporter of building a
Super 7 highway. The state-funded survey of 486 people
was conducted by the University of Connecticut-Stamford.
“I find the results of this study
inconsistent with what I know about my constituents.
Previous public hearings on this subject have attracted
500-600 people with only 10 in favor. I have several
file cabinets filled with thousand of letters, emails
and petitions against this concept. One of the red
flags I saw right off is the use of snowball sampling.
This is a sampling method that is used when it is
difficult to find a large enough sample of people
to respond to a survey. In this case, the researchers
got only 23 responses from 500 direct contacts, or
a rate of about 4.6%, which is very low. So to increase
this, the report says that they then used snowball
sampling, which means that they asked their direct
contacts, whose views they knew something about, to
refer them to other respondents. Although a common
sampling technique, snowball sampling can, for obvious
reasons, lead to bias. It is also important to note
that of the 486 responses, well more than half --
264 -- were from Norwalk and Danbury, where Super
7 would not be cutting straight THROUGH houses and
environmental features,” said Senator Boucher.
“Also, it is interesting to note
that towns in the affected area, along with the Housatonic
Valley Council of Elected Officials and the state,
have taken this expressway off all planning documents
and instead have focused on widening the existing
roadway, and improving mass transit and other multi
modal forms of transportation. It seems to me that
Senator Duff is beating a dead horse,” said
Senator Boucher, adding that she believes the state
caucus funds spent for the study could have been better
used.
Senator Boucher stressed that there
are many good, valid reasons why building a Super
7 highway has not attracted much support. Senator
Boucher said it is important to note the following
points:
• The State
Department of Transportation does not own a large
portion of the land needed for the expressway, including
valuable wetlands that cannot be replicated or mitigated
– making it nearly impossible to obtain necessary
environmental permits.
• Building a Super 7
highway would cost billions of dollars.
• A significant portion
of a Super 7 highway would be nearly 100 feet in the
air due to topography, wetlands, and new federal grade
guidelines.
• A Super 7 highway in
this location would not receive a positive review
from a required federal environmental impact statement.
• A compromise reached
in 1999 to widen the road in order to alleviate congestion
is nearly completed.
• Every environmental
group in Connecticut opposes building a Super 7 highway.
• All elected officials
and town boards in the affected towns oppose building
a Super 7 highway.
• State transportation
policy is focused on mass transit and multi modal
transportation projects; new resources and funding
for the Danbury to Norwalk train line have been appropriated.
