To celebrate 20 years of the Nebraska Rural Poll, two side events are being held during the Nebraska Rural Futures Conference on October 21, 2015, at the Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. You are invited to participate in two interactive sessions that will bring policy makers, government officials and advocacy groups together to explore the Rural Poll data in more depth and help to inform future poll and research studies.
PowerPoint Presentation for Session One
Session One: Exploring Twenty Years of the Rural Poll
1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Session Two: Celebrating the Rural Poll – Visioning for the Future
3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
To assure the availability of adequate seating, please RSVP by October 16.
We encourage you to attend the RFI Rural Futures Conference. However, if you are not planning to attend the Rural Futures Conference, you are still welcome to attend these side events. There is no registration charge for participating in this event.
Exploring Twenty Years of the Rural Poll
The annual Nebraska Rural Poll has been conducted since 1996 and has dealt with many topics of concern to non-metropolitan Nebraskans. While important and sometimes controversial topics such as water resources, taxation and climate change draw the interest of the media, another set of questions go largely unnoticed by readers. Those questions, many repeated in every Poll, inquire as to the respondents' level of "satisfaction" with an array of community characteristics, such as infrastructure, the environment, services and leadership. Other repeated questions deal with the respondents' level of satisfaction with their current personal or household situation, including employment and income.
The Poll offers an opportunity to examine trends occurring in how non-metropolitan Nebraskans rate the condition of their communities and their lives. In this session, we will explore trends and have a conversation on remaining opportunities associated with such a robust data treasure. This interactive session will include comments from the initial and current poll researchers including Dr. John C. Allen, Dr. Sam Cordes, Dr. Randy Cantrell, and Rebecca Vogt, as well as an opportunity for stakeholders to share their insight.
Celebrating the Rural Poll – Visioning for the Future
The Nebraska Rural Poll is celebrating its 20th year. The goal of the poll has been to give rural Nebraskans and their leaders a better understanding of the issues, challenges and concerns of Nebraska’s rural citizens. For twenty years, this annual effort has focused on topics such as community, government policy, the environment, well-being and work. The core questions included in each poll are providing insights about trends and changes occurring in rural Nebraska.
Attendees will learn what led to the development of the poll. Through an interactive discussion, the value and impacts of the poll will be explored. A key component of the session will be to explore what would strengthen the poll; what the future opportunities are; and to identify research ideas and questions for future polls.
The annual Nebraska Rural Poll has been conducted since 1996 and has dealt with many topics of concern to non-metropolitan Nebraskans. While important and sometimes controversial topics such as water resources, taxation and climate change draw the interest of the media, another set of questions go largely unnoticed by readers. Those questions, many repeated in every Poll, inquire as to the respondents' level of "satisfaction" with an array of community characteristics, such as infrastructure, environment, services and leadership. Other repeated questions deal with the respondents' level of satisfaction with their current personal or household situation, including employment and income. The Poll offers an opportunity to examine trends occurring in how non-metropolitan Nebraskans rate the condition of their communities and their lives. In this session, we will explore trends and have a conversation on remaining opportunities associated with such a robust data treasure. This interactive session will include comments from the initial and current poll researchers including Dr. John C. Allen, Dr. Sam Cordes, Dr. Randy Cantrell, and Rebecca Vogt, as well as an opportunity for stakeholders to share their insight.