Authored By

DataHaven and Siena College Research Institute

Date

July 07, 2023

Partners

Survey funders include over 80 state and local government, health care, academic, and community partners throughout Connecticut, and Advisory Council members represent 300 organizations.

The DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (DCWS) uses probability sampling to create highly-reliable local information that is not available from any other public data source. The DCWS traces its origins to a series of locally-based efforts conducted over the past two decades to gather information about well-being in Connecticut neighborhoods. With guidance from an Advisory Council of 300 public and private organizations, DataHaven created a unified statewide survey shared by all cities and towns in the state.

Since 2012, quantitative and qualitative data from the DCWS have been featured in hundreds of publications about all aspects of quality of life in Connecticut, including DataHaven's Town Equity Reports and regional reports.

Surveys

2024 DCWS

2022 DCWS

2021 DCWS

2020 DCWS-COVID-19 Response Wave

2018 DCWS

2015 DCWS

2012 DCWS

Research Advisory Committee and Advisory Council

Survey Funders


2024 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (Wave 7)

Wave 7 of the DCWS will begin in early 2024, and include interviews with randomly-selected adults in every Connecticut town. The program is supported by public and private partners throughout Connecticut, including the Hartford Foundation, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Fairfield County's Community Foundation, The Connecticut Project, Yale University, and a number of local government agencies throughout the state. Please contact us for additional information.


2022 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (Wave 6)

DataHaven fielded a sixth wave of the survey in summer 2022 with support from area partners. The 2022 survey interviewed 1,196 randomly-selected residents throughout Connecticut, as it was mostly designed to produce state-level estimates, unlike our larger surveys that produce town- and regional-level estimates. Results are also included in the 2023 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Index reports. Please contact us for additional information.

Results, Publications, and Data: 2022 Survey Program


2021 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (Wave 5)

From June to December 2021, DataHaven completed Wave 5 of the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey with support from dozens of hospitals, charitable organizations, and public agencies throughout Connecticut. Like our 2015 and 2018 surveys, the 2021 survey involved thousands of live interviews of randomly-selected Connecticut residents in every town. Results from the over 9,000 interviews with randomly-selected adults may be found below. Results are also included in the Town Equity Reports, Community Wellbeing Index reports and Community Health Needs Assessment reports published throughout the state in 2022 and 2023. Please contact us for additional information.

Results, Publications, and Data: 2021 Survey Program


2020 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey - COVID-19 Response Wave (Wave 4)

DataHaven fielded a special "COVID-19 rapid response" wave of the statewide DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (DCWS) by conducting live, in-depth interviews of 1,108 randomly-selected Connecticut adults from late July to mid-August 2020.

Results, Publications, and Data: 2020 Survey Program

Unlike our large-scale 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021 DCWS, this "rapid response" wave of the DCWS had a shorter questionnaire and was focused on estimating statewide trends by community type and demographic group, but not on measuring conditions within specific neighborhoods or small towns. Due to the much smaller sample size of the 2020 DCWS wave as compared to the very large-scale 2015/2018 DCWS waves, results should be compared to past years with caution.

Funders of the 2020 survey wave included The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Tufts Health Plan Foundation, Connecticut Health Foundation, Hartford Foundation, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, Nuvance Health, City of Hartford, Trinity Health of New England, Valley Community Foundation, Greater Waterbury Health Partnership, BJM Solutions, and the Center for Research and Engagement at Yale School of Medicine.


2018 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (Wave 3)

In 2018, over 16,000 randomly-selected adults in every town in Connecticut participated in live, in-depth interviews. Support for the survey was provided by more than 80 public and private partners throughout the state.

Results, Publications, and Data: 2018 Survey Program


2015 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (Wave 2)

In 2015, DataHaven expanded the Community Wellbeing Survey to encompass the entire State of Connecticut (as well as a small section of New York State), while retaining its mission to produce high-quality neighborhood-level and regional estimates for areas including Greater New Haven, Greater Bridgeport, Lower Fairfield County, Greater Hartford and New Britain, Southeastern Connecticut, the Naugatuck Valley, and other areas. The program completed in-depth interviews of nearly 17,000 randomly-selected residents in 2015. 

Results, Publications, and Data: 2015 Survey Program


2012 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (Wave 1)

The 2012 Community Wellbeing Survey asked 1,307 randomly selected adults living in New Haven and 12 surrounding towns what they thought about a variety of issues related to well-being, quality of life, and public health. Concurrently, an additional 1,300 residents in six New Haven neighborhoods were randomly selected and interviewed in person through a survey conducted by the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement. The combined dataset of 2,600 responses is a valuable resource to help understand our region and has been widely used by all sectors of the community.

Results, Publications, and Data: 2012 Survey Program


DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey Research Advisory Committee and Advisory Council

The survey is developed with input from a Research Advisory Committee of leading national and statewide experts in survey research, as well as an Advisory Council of approximately 300 different public and private organizations throughout Connecticut. The survey uses validated questions from national and international surveys to allow comparisons to benchmark data.

From 2018 through 2022, the Research Advisory Committee included experts such as Sue Starkey, Northeast District Department of Health; Don Levy, Siena College Research Institute; Amanda Durante, Connecticut Department of Public Health; Brita Roy, Yale University; Byron Kennedy, New Haven Health Department; Mark Abraham, DataHaven; Jennifer Calder, Stamford Health Department; Lisa Morrissey, Danbury Health Department and Bridgeport Health Department; Russell Melmed, Ledge Light Health District and Chatham Health District; Amy Carroll-Scott, Drexel University; Tung Nguyen, City of Hartford; Brian Weeks, New Haven Health Department; Shayna Cunningham, University of Connecticut; Kathleen Duffany, Yale University; Emily Wang, Yale University; Victor G Villagra, University of Connecticut; Gregg Gonsalves, Yale University; Danya Keene, Yale University; Jane Ungemack, University of Connecticut.

Advisory Council members include representatives from public agencies and private organizations throughout the state, representing a wide range of interests.


DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey Funders

Please see our list of sponsors and partners. Please contact us to learn more.