Orange County NC Website
order to make a final determination of whether that customer should be recorded as living <br />inside or outside the incorporated areas. <br />A second clarification question was asked of customers who reported having access to curbside <br />recycling. The survey asked the nature of their recycling container — whether they had an <br />orange bin or a blue rolling cart, and if a rolling cart, the color of its lid. Since the orange bins <br />are used only by the rural recycling program, this was an indicator that the customer likely did <br />*not* live inside town limits, and if this contradicted their earlier response, data collectors were <br />trained to use the street name method. Similarly, blue rolling carts used in the incorporated <br />areas have blue lids, while the newly distributed rolling carts in the rural areas have black lids, <br />and this distinction provided an additional check and opportunity for verification /clarification of <br />the customer's initial response. <br />Through these clarification questions and careful training of data collectors, OCSWM staff made <br />every effort to ensure that the final answer recorded on each survey form properly <br />characterized the customer's residence as being inside or outside the incorporated areas of the <br />county. <br />ADDITIONAL SURVEY TOPICS <br />The survey contained questions on three additional topics relevant to SWCC usage. Customers <br />who reported that they do not currently have access to curbside recycling services were asked <br />whether, if they had such service, they thought they would use it, and if not, why not. <br />Customers who reported having access to curbside recycling were asked whether they had <br />brought recycling to the SWCC that day, and if so, why. Finally, all customers were asked how <br />often they typically use any of the SWCCs. <br />SAMPLE DESIGN <br />The unit of analysis for this survey is the instance of use of a SWCC. The survey was designed to <br />estimate the proportion of usage (not users) of the SWCCs attributed to persons living inside <br />town limits and outside them. This proportion is inherently variable on any given day, <br />depending on which users happen to come to the SWCC that day. The survey was designed to <br />take a "snapshot" of the usage of each SWCC over a one week period. A one week period was <br />chosen for two primary reasons: usage rates vary by day of week (making one week the <br />shortest meaningful period), and the need to avoid undue burden on the public. Since the unit <br />of analysis was the instance of use, every time a customer entered the SWCC, that instance of <br />use was eligible for the survey. There could be no "skipping over" customers who already <br />responded to the survey, as this would bias the estimates of usage. OCSWM staff suspected <br />(and it is confirmed by the survey data), that most SWCC users come to the site once a week or <br />