Continental Research
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4500 Colley Avenue
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Norfolk, VA 23508
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Executive Summary
This 2014 survey of Chesapeake residents was commissioned by the City of Chesapeake and
conducted by Continental Research Associates, Inc. The purpose of this study is to identify
whether residents’ expectations of the City are being met and solicit suggestions. Similar
satisfaction surveys have been conducted since the 1990s. The 2014 questionnaire was based
on the most similar prior survey (2006) and was updated to reflect current City services and
issues.
A total of 323 randomly-selected households were surveyed. Each was contacted by landline
telephone or cell phone between October 1 and October 29 . During the 16-minute interview,
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respondents were asked to rate various City services and characteristics. (To minimize bias,
City employees were not included.) The surveys were then tabulated and analyzed using IBM’s
SPSS statistical software, and this summary of the findings was presented to the City of
Chesapeake in early November.
~ ~ Describing Chesapeake to Non-Residents ~ ~
The survey opened with a general question about
how Chesapeake residents would describe the City
to someone who has never been there... “Would
you say mostly good things, some good and some
bad things, or mostly bad things?”
Here, most of those surveyed (77.1%) said they
would say mostly good things, while one out of five
people (21.7%) would mention a mixture of good
and bad things. The most significant finding was
that only 1.2% would say mostly bad things.
~ ~ The City’s Greatest Challenge ~ ~
Prior to asking Chesapeake residents about their satisfaction with specific City services, each
was asked to name the single most important problem or greatest need facing the City of
Chesapeake today. While 10.2% of the respondents did not mention a need because they
thought everything was fine, 89.8% did mention specific ideas. The suggestions were quite
scattered, with many being mentioned by fewer than 5% of the residents.
The top issues were:
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Traffic congestion/delays (mentioned by 18.0% of the respondents)
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Issues with the roads (13.0% mentioned)
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Growth/need better planning for growth (9.3% mentioned)
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Property taxes (6.5% mentioned)
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School safety/teacher pay/need more funding (5.9% mentioned)
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Drainage problems (4.0% mentioned)
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Crime (4.0% mentioned)
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School crowding/need to build more schools (3.4% mentioned)
