Interviews and surveys

Interviews and surveys are common methods to collect data beyond the observable. For example, to better understand who is using the urban park (tourists, residents, etc.) and how (e.g. how often do they visit, what for) short public surveys can be conducted. These can be conducted in person on site or digitally in the form of an online survey. Interviews are often used to gain deeper insights into motivations and causalities and can help to explain patterns in more detail. Interviews can be conducted with a subset of users to better understand how they are experiencing the open green space and how they assess the contribution of the public space to the quality of life. Interviews could also be conducted off-site with experts or representatives of specific groups to provide insights into the planning process, interests behind land use proposals and potential conflicts.

Questions for surveys and interviews should be carefully developed and tested prior to actual data collection. The digilego project provides some useful resources on interview methods.

As these methods involve working with people, ethical issues should be carefully considered beforehand including participant consent and management of personal data.