Authored By
DataHaven and Siena College Research Institute
Date
May 05, 2024
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
Research Advisory Committee and Advisory Council
2024 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey (Wave 7)
Wave 7 of the DCWS began in early 2024, and the survey has completed interviews with thousands of randomly-selected adults in every Connecticut town. The DCWS is supported by public and private partners throughout Connecticut, including the Hartford Foundation, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Fairfield County's Community Foundation, Connecticut Community Foundation, The Connecticut Project, Yale University, University of Hartford, Hartford HealthCare, Yale-New Haven Health, Nuvance Health, Middlesex Health, and a number of local government agencies throughout the state. Full results will be available in Fall 2024.
DataHaven has also worked with local partners to field a 2024 Community-Based Assets and Needs Survey (CBANS), which is designed to collect data with specific groups using convenience sampling approaches. Results from the CBANS are not directly comparable to the population-based results from the DCWS, even though many of the questions are identical.
Results, Publications, and Data: 2024 Survey Program
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.
Results, Publications, and Data: 2022 Survey Program
- September 16, 2022 press release with preliminary data on food insecurity in 2022
- Data crosstab with 2022 statewide data broken down by 5CT town type, sex, age, race/ethnicity, education, income, children
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. 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.
Results, Publications, and Data: 2021 Survey Program
- Press release announcing commencement of 2021 Community Wellbeing Survey and list of funders
- July 2, 2021 press release on preliminary June survey results regarding vaccine equity
- October 6, 2021 press release on Summer 2021 statewide survey results - post includes detailed data crosstab with preliminary statewide data
- February 13, 2022 press release on the full set of survey results (June through December 2021), including highlighted data for Connecticut towns - post includes detailed data crosstab with final statewide data
- Additional crosstabs with town-level and regional-level data are available on request.
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
- A press release and statewide crosstabs with estimates for each survey question by gender, race, income, and other factors are now available. Click here for an electronic version of just the press release.
- A media advisory with preliminary information was posted in early September, and results from the DCWS have been used in Governor Ned Lamont's COVID-19 press briefing. A list of press coverage, including several front-page newspaper articles, may be found here.
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
- First published in 2021, the Town Equity Reports for all 169 towns in Connecticut include more detailed data from the survey, by town/area and race/ethnicity.
- Detailed 2019 reports published with our partners throughout Fairfield County, Greater Hartford, Greater New Haven, the Naugatuck Valley and other areas, as well as special topic reports such as one on health equity and social inequality in Connecticut, incorporate DataHaven survey results with many other national, state, and local data sources.
- Index of crosstabs for all geographic areas within Connecticut. Data for the individual towns and regions or groupings of towns other than those posted on this website may be available on request.
- Statewide crosstab of weighted estimates for Connecticut, by age, race, gender, and other factors
- Statewide crosstab of weighted estimates for the "Five Connecticuts" groupings of wealthy, suburban, rural, urban periphery, and urban core towns
- Press release announcing commencement of 2018 Community Wellbeing Survey and list of funders
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
- Detailed 2016-2017 reports incorporating survey results and other data sources: Merging 500 Cities and Connecticut Data, Fairfield County Community Wellbeing Index, Greater New Haven Community Index, Connecticut Civic Health Index, Valley Community Index, Status of Women and Girls in Eastern Connecticut, and others
- Index of crosstabs for all geographic areas within Connecticut (NEW!)
- Statewide crosstab of weighted estimates for Connecticut, by age, race, gender, and other factors
- Statewide crosstab of weighted estimates for the "Five Connecticuts" groupings of wealthy, suburban, rural, urban periphery, and urban core towns
- Data for other geographical areas within Connecticut and New York State (posted within Data Resources section, more available upon request)
- Press release announcing completion of the 2015 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey
- Press release announcing commencement of 2015 Community Wellbeing Survey and list of partners
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
- Press release and executive summary of 2012 Community Wellbeing Survey results
- Greater New Haven Community Index 2013 - Detailed report based on Survey results and other data sources
- Crosstab of 2012 survey results
DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey Research Advisory Committee and Advisory Council
The survey is developed with input from a Research Advisory Committee as well as an Advisory Council. The survey uses validated questions from national and international surveys to allow comparisons to benchmark data.
From 2018 through 2024, the Research Advisory Committee has included experts in survey research and epidemiology 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 approximately 300 different 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.
