Questions to Ask Community Members About Their Community
Questions to ask community members about their community, for organizers, nonprofit and public health staff, planners, students and reporters working on a needs assessment, a listening session, a class project or a local story. They run in the order a conversation with a resident tends to go: living here and what people value, daily needs and what is missing, services, safety, who is heard and who is trusted, then what to change first and how to close. Most are worded to be said aloud, one-on-one or in a listening session, and the guide shows how to turn one into a survey item without steering the answer.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Living here
How long have you lived here, and what brought you here or kept you here?
Why ask it
Anyone can answer it, and it tells you how to read everything that follows: someone who has been here thirty years and someone who arrived eight months ago are describing two different places. Write the number of years beside their other answers. Do not discount the newcomer, who still notices what long-time residents have stopped seeing.
What do you like most about living in this community?
Why ask it
Ask what is good before you ask what is wrong. People who are only asked about problems start to feel their home is being treated as one, and whatever they name here is what a later plan has to protect. If the answer is 'the people', ask which people and what they do.
How would you describe this neighborhood to someone who was thinking of moving here?
Why ask it
Residents tend to sell the place and warn about it in the same breath. The warning half is often a need they would not have raised if you had asked for a complaint. Note the name they give the area too, and use it in place of the one on your map.
When you think of your community, where does it start and stop?
Why ask it
The boundary on a project map is rarely the one in a resident's head. One person means three blocks, another a congregation or a language group, another the whole town. Settle this before you write 'the community said' about anything, and notice which streets nobody includes.
Where do people around here run into each other?
Why ask it
The answer is your list of places to hold the next session and to post what you learned: a laundromat, a bus stop, the school pickup line, a barber's chair. If the person cannot think of anywhere, that is a finding in itself. Ask where they would go if such a place existed.
How much do you feel a part of this community?
Why ask it
Belonging is easier to hear in a story than on a scale, so follow with a time they felt they did belong, or did not. Renters, newcomers and people who work nights can live somewhere for years without feeling counted in it. Do not hurry to reassure someone who answers 'not much'. What would change it is the better thing to ask.
Who makes things happen here, with or without a title?
Why ask it
The names you get are your next interviews, and usually the people a project cannot succeed without. Ask what each one actually did, which separates a helper from someone who is simply well known. A name that comes up from several residents who do not know one another is the one to call first.
What is this community proud of that a visitor would miss?
Why ask it
Official data describes a place mostly by what it lacks, and this is the counterweight. Expect a team, a garden, a festival, or the week neighbors got each other through a storm. Put at least one of these in your write-up in the resident's own words.
What has changed here in the time you have known it, for better and for worse?
Why ask it
Asking for both directions keeps you from steering toward a story of decline or of improvement. Listen for who they think gained from each change. The same new apartment building is investment to one resident and the reason a friend had to leave to another.
Daily needs
What is harder about everyday life here than it should be?
Why ask it
Put this ahead of any topic of your own, so the resident's priorities come out before yours do. Whatever is named first, unprompted, deserves more weight than what they agree with later when you raise it. Then find out how they manage it now.
What do you see as the biggest issue facing this community right now?
Why ask it
Ask it straight after the everyday question and compare the two answers. A resident may name crime or housing costs for the community and a bus schedule for their own week, and a report needs both. If nothing comes to mind, write that down as the answer and do not offer a list to choose from.
What do you have to leave the area to get?
Why ask it
Groceries, a pharmacy, a bank, a doctor, a job: each trip out of the area is a gap, found without asking anyone to name a 'need'. Follow with how they get there and how long it takes. A store twenty minutes away by car is a different problem for a household without one.
What is there for children and teenagers to do here once school is out?
Why ask it
Put it to parents, to older residents and to teenagers themselves, because the three answers rarely match. Adults often describe what they want young people kept away from. Young people describe what they would actually show up to.
What is it like to grow old here?
Why ask it
Sidewalks, benches, steps, rides to appointments, loneliness and whether a person can afford to stay in their home all tend to surface here. Ask an older resident directly. With a younger one, ask about a parent or a neighbor they keep an eye on.
How do most people you know get around, and what happens when that falls through?
Why ask it
The need shows in what happens when the usual way fails: the missed shift when a car breaks down, the bus that stops running at six. Work, school, food and medical visits each fail in their own way, so find out which trip is hardest to make.
How easy is it to find a home here that people can afford and want to stay in?
Why ask it
Do not ask what the person pays. Ask what they have seen happen to neighbors, which most people answer more freely. Work out whether the trouble is price, condition or simply too few places, because those three point to different responses.
What kind of work is there for people here, and who has trouble getting it?
Why ask it
Residents' picture of the local economy may not match the employer list at the town hall, so take theirs down as they give it. The 'who has trouble' part names the barrier: a commute, child care, a language, a criminal record, a missing credential. What would have to change for that group is the next thing to find out.
When money gets tight for a household around here, what do people go without first?
Why ask it
It asks about 'a household around here' so that a person can answer from experience without having to say it is theirs. If someone does tell you about their own situation, have a short list of local help ready to hand over, and promise nothing your organization cannot deliver.
What did this place once have that you miss?
Why ask it
A closed clinic, a cut bus route, a corner store, a youth club. A loss names a need without asking the resident to picture something they have never had. Ask what people do instead now, which is the workaround any replacement would have to beat.
Services
Which local services do you use, and which do you know about but have never tried?
Why ask it
The services a person has heard of and never tried are the ones to stay on. What stops them may be hours, cost, distance, language, paperwork, or how they were treated the last time. A service that exists and sits empty is a different problem from a missing one, and often a cheaper one to fix.
What do you think most affects people's health around here?
Why ask it
Leave 'health' undefined and see where the person takes it: you may hear about clinics, or about rent, stress, air, food prices and having nowhere safe to walk. Which way they go shows how residents connect health to the place, and a public health plan has to start from that. Keep it about people in general, since this is not the moment to collect anyone's medical history.
When someone in your family is sick, where do you go first?
Why ask it
You are asking about the route, never the illness, so stop the person kindly if they start listing diagnoses. The answer shows real access better than a map of clinics does. Follow with how long it takes to be seen, and what happens at night or on a weekend.
Tell me about the last time you needed help from an office or an agency. How did it go?
Why ask it
'The last time' gets you a story with steps in it where 'what do you think of' gets an opinion. Count the visits, calls and forms, and note who finally got it resolved. Program rules differ from place to place, so record what happened to this person and check how it works locally before you repeat it as fact.
How well do the schools here serve the children you know?
Why ask it
Parents answer about their own child and everyone else answers about reputation, so note which you are hearing. Asking what they would tell a new parent brings out the workarounds: which school families try for, who helps with homework, what costs extra.
How do you find out what is going on locally?
Why ask it
This is where to announce your next meeting and where to publish your findings. Expect it to split by age and language, since a flyer in a store window and a group chat reach different people. Ask which source they believe and which they merely see.
If a neighbor were going through a hard time, such as a loss or a family crisis, where could they turn?
Why ask it
The neighbor is there on purpose, so nobody has to talk about themselves. Answers often name informal support: a pastor, a coach, the woman at the pharmacy counter. If the conversation becomes personal, listen without advising and offer your list of local help.
What shape are the parks, streets and public buildings in, and who looks after them?
Why ask it
Shared space is where residents judge whether anyone is paying attention to them. Ask for one specific spot and go and look at it yourself. Who is responsible varies from town to town, so write down who residents think it is, then confirm it with the local government.
Which service or program here works well, and what makes it work?
Why ask it
A needs assessment that lists only gaps misses what is worth copying. The reason given is often a person, or the way people are treated at the door, as much as anything in the program's design. Pass the compliment on to the staff concerned.
Safety
How safe do you feel here, in the daytime and after dark?
Why ask it
It asks about feeling, because you want experience and can get crime figures elsewhere, and the two often disagree. Give no examples: mentioning break-ins or gangs tells the person what you expect to hear. Then ask what makes the difference between day and night.
Are there places or times you avoid? What is it about them?
Why ask it
This turns a general impression into an underpass, an unlit bus stop, or one corner on weekend nights. Mark the spots on a map if the person is willing. The cause is often physical, such as lighting, an empty building or fast traffic, and physical things have an owner you can go to.
What makes a street here feel safe to you?
Why ask it
The positive form of the safety question. People tend to name lights, neighbors on porches, open stores and familiar faces, which may not be what officials assume they want. Keep the list: these are the requests residents would make if anyone asked.
How safe is it to walk, bike or cross the road here, especially for children and older people?
Why ask it
Traffic often goes unmentioned when you ask about safety in general, so give it a question of its own. Get the exact crossing or stretch of road, and what the person has seen happen there. It is one of the few findings you can photograph.
If something went wrong on your street, who would you call first?
Why ask it
This is a question about trust. Some will say the police, others a neighbor, a relative, the landlord, or nobody. Take the answer without reacting, and do not press anyone on a reason for leaving the police out: for some residents that is not a safe thing to explain to a stranger with a notebook.
How do people here look out for one another?
Why ask it
Checking on an older neighbor, watching each other's children and sharing rides are the informal safety net, and this is how you get it described. Ask when it last happened. If the answer is 'they used to', ask when that stopped and what else was going on around then.
How ready is this community for an emergency, such as a flood, a fire or a long power outage?
Why ask it
Ask what happened the last time: who checked on whom, and who was missed. Residents usually know which neighbors could not get out on their own. With their permission, that knowledge belongs with whoever plans emergency response in the area.
Voice and trust
Who is doing well in this community, and who is having the hardest time?
Why ask it
It lets people describe unfairness in their own categories and not in yours, so offer no list of groups. Write down the exact words they use. Some of what you hear will be observation and some will be rumor, and 'how do you know?' asked gently tells you which.
Whose voices are missing when decisions get made here?
Why ask it
Follow with why, and with how you might reach them. The honest next step is to compare the answer with your own interview list. If the groups people name are not on it, that is the coming week's work.
Is there anyone here who gets talked about a lot but rarely talked to?
Why ask it
The groups discussed as a problem come up here: teenagers, people sleeping outside, new arrivals, renters. Listen to the tone as much as the content. Then go and put the questions on this page to those people, beginning with the ones under Living here.
Who do you trust to tell you the truth about what is happening locally?
Why ask it
You will hear a nurse, a faith leader, a store owner, a school secretary. For public health work these are the people to brief first when there is something residents need to know. You can ask who they do not believe, but let it go if they hesitate over names.
How much say do people here have in the decisions that affect them?
Why ask it
Ask for an example, such as a rezoning, a school closure or a change to a road, and how they found out about it. 'After it was done' is an answer that tells you what a real consultation would have to change. Do not defend the body responsible, even if it employs you.
Have people come here asking questions before? What came of it?
Why ask it
A community that has been surveyed again and again and seen nothing change has good reason to be wary of you. Move this one up to the start if you sense that weariness. The answer usually tells you the one thing to do differently, and it is often just to come back.
Which groups or organizations do people here rely on?
Why ask it
This builds your map of what already exists: congregations, tenant groups, sports clubs, a food pantry, an informal lending circle. Ask who runs each and whether they talk to one another. A new project should visit them before it starts anything of its own.
How well do the different groups in this community get along?
Why ask it
The wording is open on purpose, so do not name the divide you suspect, whether that is old and new residents, renters and owners, or one generation and the next. In a group session expect polite answers; this one does better one-on-one. Ask where the groups do meet, since that is where any bridging would start.
What do people from outside get wrong about this place?
Why ask it
A check on your own assumptions and on every report written before yours. Residents often name a reputation they are tired of carrying. Reporters and students especially should reread their draft against this answer, starting with the headline.
Change and closing
If you could change one thing here first, what would it be?
Why ask it
Holding the person to one forces a ranking that a list of complaints never gives you. Ask why that one comes first. Across many interviews the most mentioned change is a lead, not a vote, unless you chose your interviewees to stand for the whole area.
Imagine things go well here over the next ten years. What does this place look like?
Why ask it
It comes best after the problems, since it moves the conversation from what people are against to what they want. The details carry the meaning: 'my kids could afford to stay' is a statement about jobs and housing. Whatever they say would have to happen first is a priority they have just ranked for you.
What small thing could be fixed in the next few months that people would notice?
Why ask it
Expect a streetlight, a crossing, a cleared lot, longer opening hours. A visible small fix earns the trust that larger work depends on. If your organization can do one, do it, and say publicly that the idea came out of these conversations.
What has been tried here before, and what happened to it?
Why ask it
The answer keeps you from proposing the thing that failed five years ago, or tells you why it failed: the funding ran out, the hours were wrong, it was run by people from somewhere else. Ask who was involved. They are worth an interview of their own.
What should be left alone, even if someone offers to improve it?
Why ask it
Some residents fear improvement because of what arrived with it the last time, such as higher rents or neighbors who had to move. The market, the mural or the informal ball field they name here goes into your report as a limit on every recommendation.
If money came into this community tomorrow, who should decide how it is spent?
Why ask it
What residents would buy matters less here than whom they consider legitimate: the city council, a residents' committee, an existing organization, a vote. A funder who knows that can set up a grant so that it is not resented on arrival.
What would you be willing to help with yourself?
Why ask it
Ask only if there is a real way to take the person up on it, because an offer that leads nowhere costs you trust. If you promised that answers would stay anonymous, keep contact details on a separate sheet from your notes. A small, specific job gets more yeses than a seat on a committee.
What have I not asked about that matters here?
Why ask it
Your list was built from what you already knew, and this is the question that reaches past it. When a new topic comes up, add it to the next interview and note the date, so you remember that the earlier conversations never covered it.
Who else should I talk to, especially someone who would see things differently from you?
Why ask it
Referrals are how most community interviewing grows, and the second half keeps the chain from running through one circle of friends. Check whether you may say who sent you. A name passed on with an introduction opens far more doors than a cold knock.
How would you like to hear what we learn from these conversations?
Why ask it
Asking this commits you to doing it, so leave it out if no report back is planned. You might hear a meeting, a one-page summary at the library, or a post in the neighborhood chat. Give a rough date and keep to it.
How to interview residents about the place they live
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the first conversation
Decide what the answers are for
A needs assessment for a grant, a listening session for a planning office, a class project and a news story all start from the same questions and end somewhere different. Write down what you will produce and who will read it before you choose any questions. Then tell each resident which of these it is, because 'we are deciding where a clinic goes' and 'this is for my course' deserve different amounts of their time.
Find out what is already on record
Population figures, health data, school results and earlier assessments may already exist for the area, and residents should not be asked for what a table can tell you. What is published, and by whom, differs by country and region, so ask the local health department, the planning office or a public librarian what they hold. Save the interviews for what records cannot show: what the numbers feel like, and what is missing from them.
Arrive through someone residents know
A stranger with a clipboard gets short answers. An introduction from a tenant leader, a congregation, a school or a clinic gets longer ones. Ask that organization what it would like to learn from the work too, and offer to share the results, so the favor runs both ways.
Consent, names and privacy in a small place
Whether a project needs formal ethics review, a signed form or a parent's permission for anyone under 18 depends on your school, employer, funder and country, so ask whoever supervises the work how it is handled there. Whatever the rule, each person should hear who you are, what the answers are for, whether their name will appear, and that they can skip any question. In a small place a detail such as a street or a job can identify someone, so plan what you will strip out before you write anything up.
Pick a dozen questions, not the whole page
A sit-down interview of 30 to 45 minutes has room for ten or twelve questions with follow-ups. Take two from each group, open with one from Living here and end on one of the last three under Change and closing. A conversation at a bus stop or a market stall has room for four or five. For a listening session with a room of people, choose five or six and give each one real time.
Asking without leading
Leave your own diagnosis out of the wording
'How bad is the litter here?' has already decided there is litter and that it is bad. 'What shape are the streets in?' lets the resident decide. Before each interview, read your questions aloud and take out every adjective and every example that points toward an answer you expect.
Ask about life before you mention your program
People are polite. If they know you come from a health center, they will tell you the neighborhood needs health care; if you come from the parks department, they will talk about parks. Introduce yourself honestly, but put the open questions under Living here and Daily needs ahead of anything about your own field, and see whether your subject comes up without help.
Use 'a household around here' for private subjects
Money, housing trouble, immigration, health and family conflict are easier to describe at a distance. Several questions on this page ask about neighbors or about people the resident knows for that reason. Do not then ask 'and is that true for you?' If the person wants to say so, they will.
Turn opinions into stories
'Are services good here?' gets a yes or a shrug. 'Tell me about the last time you needed help from an office' gets a sequence of events you can learn from. When an answer stays general, ask when it last happened and what the person did next.
Turning a question into a survey item
On a written survey, an open question becomes a closed one, and the leading creeps back in through the answer choices. Offer a scale with as many positive steps as negative ones, include 'does not apply' and a line for 'something else', and keep the lists short. 'How safe do you feel here after dark?' can become: very safe, fairly safe, not very safe, not safe at all, I am not out after dark. Try the draft on five residents and watch where they hesitate. Leave one open question for last, such as the one about what you did not ask.
Take criticism of your own organization quietly
Sooner or later someone will tell you that your agency, your newspaper or your university let the neighborhood down. Write it down, thank them and ask what happened. Explaining or correcting teaches the person, and everyone they talk to afterward, that you came for agreeable answers.
Reaching more than the usual voices
Keep a tally of who you have heard from
The residents who come to a public meeting are the ones with a free evening, confidence in the language and a habit of being listened to. Keep a simple count as you go: age range, years in the area, renter or owner, language at home, which part of the neighborhood. When one column stays empty, that is where to go next, and the questions under Voice and trust will tell you who to look for.
Go to where people already are
The places residents named when you asked where people run into each other are your venues. A table at a school pickup, a laundromat or a weekend market reaches people who would never answer an invitation. Vary the hours as well, since a weekday morning misses everyone who works days and an evening misses many parents and shift workers.
Work in the language people think in
Have the questions translated ahead of time and ask a second speaker to translate them back, which catches wording that drifted. Where you can, use an interpreter who is not the resident's relative or next-door neighbor, because people soften what they say in front of someone they will see tomorrow. An interpreted interview takes roughly twice as long, so plan on about half as many questions.
Choose between one-on-one and a group
A group shows you what people will say in front of each other and lets one memory prompt another, which suits questions about places, services and change. Safety, money, trust in the police and tension between groups do better in private. Many projects hold a listening session first and then follow up individually with people who had more to say.
After the conversations
Sort by theme and keep the words
Write up your notes the same day, while you can still hear the person's voice. Group what you heard under headings that come from the answers, which may not be the six groups on this page. Keep short direct quotes beside each theme, with the identifying details removed, because 'the bus stops at six and my shift ends at seven' persuades a funder in a way 'transport barriers' never will.
Say how many, and say who
Thirty conversations found through referrals describe those thirty people. Report them that way: 'most of the older renters we spoke with' is accurate, and 'residents believe' is not. If you need to say what share of the whole area holds a view, that calls for a survey with a planned sample, and it is worth asking a local university or health department for help with the design.
Check the draft with residents
Before anything is published or sent to a funder, take the main findings back to a few of the people you interviewed, or to a small group at one of the organizations that introduced you. Ask what you got wrong and what is missing. This catches errors, and it also catches findings that are accurate but would embarrass or expose someone if printed.
Report back, even when little has changed
Use the channel people chose when you asked how they wanted to hear. Say what you learned, what will happen because of it, and what will not happen and why. A plain 'we asked for the crossing and were turned down' keeps more goodwill than silence, and it is what makes the next person with a notebook welcome on the same street.