The Public Access System (PAS)
Pre-Prototype Questionnaire

Part One - Personal Information

1. A form of identification is needed in order to track your responses between this questionnaire and the post-prototype questionnaire. Because of this, we would like the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number? ________

2. How old are you? ____

3. What is your sex? ____ Male ____ Female

4a. List all groups you are involved in that discuss community issues. Please include the one that brought you to this meeting.

4b. How often have you attended meetings in the last year for these groups.
____ I attended a few of the meetings held
____ I attended quite a few of the meetings held
____ I attended almost all of the meetings held
____ I attended every meeting held

5. Do you rent or own a home? ____ Rent ____ Own

6. How many years have you lived in the Tucson area? ______

7. Please select the category that best includes your occupation?
____ Managerial occupations
____ Sales and service occupations
____ Administrative support occupations
____ Crafts and repair occupations
____ Operator, fabricator, and laborer occupations
____ Education
____ Local, state, or federal government agency
____ Retired
____ Other (_________________________________________)

8. What category describes your education level
____ Never finished high school
____ High school graduate
____ Started college but haven't finished
____ 2 year college degree
____ 4 year college degree
____ Started a graduate degree but haven't finished
____ Graduate degree
____ Post graduate research

Part Two - The Questionnaire

1. Rate your computer fluency.

1. Have you ever used a computer? Yes No

If yes,

• Have you ever examined information in a spreadsheet? Yes No
  
• Have you ever examined information in a database manager program? Yes No
  
• Have you ever examined information in a computer aided design (CAD) software or geographic information system (GIS)? Yes No
  
• Have you ever accessed the Internet? Yes No

4. How would you prefer to view information? ___ On paper ___ In a computer

5. Does your local library branch offer access to the Internet? Yes No Don't know

If yes, have you ever taken advantage of that opportunity? Yes No

6. Do you own a computer? Yes No

If no, do you plan to purchase a computer? Yes No

If yes, how often do you use it?
____ Never
____ Once per month
____ Once per week
____ Once per day
____ Many times a day

7. Do you believe that government agencies should provide free access to all public information when the requester will use that information to make money? Yes No

8. Rate how important each of the following pieces of information is to you.

9. From the previous list, please list what the 3 most important pieces of information are to you (1 = most important, 2 = next most important, etc.).

1.
2.
3.

10. Rate your interest in local government decisions.

11. In regard to local government decisions, check which level of involvement describes you best.
____ No involvement whatsoever
____ Reading the newspaper and discussing events
____ Writing letters or calling local representatives
____ Attending public meetings, demonstrating, or getting involved

12. Do you believe that a citizen has the right to free access to all public information created by a government agency? Yes No

13. Suppose you are interested in housing within your neighborhood, which would you rather have? (Circle the letter that represents your choice).

a. A list of housing types in your neighborhood (i.e., single family dwellings, apartments, townhouses), or
b. A picture showing the locations of different housing types in your neighborhood.

14. Suppose you are interested in reported crimes in your neighborhood, which would you rather have? (Circle the letter that represents your choice).

a. A table showing the number and type of crimes reported, or
b. A map showing the locations of these crimes.

15. Suppose you are interested in land uses within your neighborhood, which type of information would you rather have? (Circle the letter that represents your choice).

a. A list of land uses and total acres each land use occupies, or
b. A graphic showing land uses within your neighborhood.

16. Would you be more involved in public decision-making processes if you had better knowledge about your neighborhood? Yes No

17. Would you be willing to pass a special bond package to fund improved access to public information? Yes No

18. Would you be willing to pay a $10 tax on land title transfers to improve access to public information? Yes No

19. Which do you think would be the largest obstacle when putting public information on a computer system and making it accessible to the public?
____ Politics
____ Technical issues
____ Cost
____ Other(______________)

20. What three kinds of information about local government services would you like to have access to? You may want to use previously listed information or your own ideas.

1.
2.
3.

21. What obstacles might prevent your access to this information?

22. Could you go today and obtain this information from your local government agency? Yes No

23. How do you think computerized access to public information will affect the 'balance of power' in local governments today? (select one).

____ It will give special interest groups an unfair advantage
____ It will equalize everyone's ability to take part in local government decision-making
____ It will have no affect

24. How will computerized access to public information affect your access to information?

____ It will make access easier
____ It will make access more difficult
____ It will have no affect

25. Does a citizen have the right to access all information created by a government agency? Yes No

26. Rate your knowledge of the following features within your neighborhood.

27. Have you ever attended a public meeting (e.g., City Council meeting, County Board of Supervisors meeting, zoning commission meeting, or citizen advisory board meeting)?Yes No

28. Pima County's Technical Services Department has an informal policy on computerized data access. This policy deals with how to handle requests for their digital information. Please rate each of the four points in the policy.

29. Have you heard about this policy before? Yes No

30. Have you ever needed to obtain information about the following categories? Please circle yes/no as appropriate. If you circle yes, please rate how difficult it was to obtain the information. If you circle no, move on to the next category.

31. Assume you are looking at any one of the sources of information mentioned in this questionnaire. Rate how important each of the following issues is to you.