Professional Researches

Wade Clark Residents' Panel Co-ordinator

Having completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing (2001) from the University of Western Sydney (Macarthur); Wade immediately began community consultation work for Campbelltown City Council. This research centered on crime prevention. In 2002 he began work with Strathfield Municipal Council completing community consultation work over numerous Council areas of which provided the basis for him to complete the Strathfield Community Profile. He has also worked with NFO and then TNS (through a merger) in developing advanced Online Research techniques such as Online Brand & Advertising Tracking, Conjoint Analysis, Choice Modelling and Advanced Segmentation Analysis. Wade was recently invited to take part in the International Conference in Engaging Communities which was a joint initiative of the United Nations and Queensland State Government. At the conference he presented the paper “Engaging the Large and Diverse Community of Parramatta - How to establish a Residents Panel”.

How we provide accessibility

The Residents' Panel staff understand that our Community is quite diverse in its nature. The Backgrounds, Languages, Employment types, Ages have never been so different.

For this reason the Residents' Panel staff are trying to create as many different and effective ways to consult with our Community as realistically possible.

For example:

We are working to provide all surveys in three different approaches:

• by mail
• on-line
• telephone

Creating easy to read surveys: empasising on easy to understand questions
The Residents' Panel in its quality control procedures creates its surveys with an emphasis on:

• Langauge that is easy to understand
• Visually stimulating to look
• Has a font size and style that is large

We are currently trialling multi-lingual surveys

The trend of languages spoken within our Local Government Area has changed dramatically over the past ten years. Increasingly our residents speak a language other than English at home. For this reason the Residents Panel are looking to implement multilingual surveys in the three most common languages spoken other than English in Parramatta.

• Arabic
• Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese)
• Korean

Government regulations & best practices

Adhering to government regulations is of major importance to the Residents’ Panel staff.

The major government regulation in the information field that we conform to is

• Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998 (NSW)

How do we conform to this:

Collection

1. Lawful – When we collect your personal information, the information is collected for a lawful purpose. It is also directly related to the Parramatta City Councils' ’s activities and necessary for that purpose.

2. Direct – Your information is always collected directly from you, unless you have given your consent otherwise. Parents and guardians can give consent for minors.

3. Open – You are informed why the information is being collected, and that we will be storing and using it. Parramatta City Council will tell you how you can see and correct this information if need be.

4. Relevant – Parramatta City Council ensures that the information is relevant, accurate, up-to-date and not excessive. The collection will not be unreasonable or intrude into your personal affairs.

Storage

5. Secure – Your information is stored securely, not kept any longer than necessary, and disposed of in the appropriate manner. It is always protected from unauthorised access, use or disclosure.

Access

6. Transparent – Parramatta City Council will always provide you with enough details about what personal information we are storing, why we are storing it.

7. Accessible – Parramatta City Council willl allow you to access your personal information without unreasonable delay and expense.

8. Correct – Parramatta City Council will allow you to update, correct or amend your personal information where necessary.

Use

9. Accurate – Parramatta City Council will make sure that your information is accurate before using it.

10. Limited – Parramatta City Council can only use your information for the purpose for which it was collected, for a directly related purpose, or for a purpose to which you have given your consent. It can also be used without your consent in order to deal with a serious and imminent threat to any person’s health or safety.

Disclosure

11. Restricted – Parramatta City Council can only disclose your information with your consent or if you were told at the time we collected it from you that we would do so. Parramatta City Council can also disclose your information if it is for a related purpose and they don’t think that you would object. Your information can also be used without your consent in order to deal with a serious and imminent threat to any person’s health or safety.

12. Safeguarded – Parramatta City Council cannot disclose your sensitive personal information without your consent, for example information about your ethnic or racial origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, health or sexual activities or trade union membership. We can only disclose sensitive information without your consent in order to deal with a serious and imminent threat to any person’s health or safety.

Best practice

So as to ensure Resident Panel Consultations provide effective and meaningful feedback Resident Panel staff have established system in accordance from government best practice methods and accredited independent associations.

For Example:

Code of Conduct – AMSRS (Australian Market and Social Research Society)

All research conducted by Residents’ Panel Staff meet the code of conduct of the Australia Market and Social Research Society.

Fieldwork – AGIMO (Australian Government Information Management Office)

The collection of information for research purposes is a crucial step in any research process. This requires the upmost of care and a comprehensive quality control procedure.

Residents’ Panel staff has created in accordance with AGIMO best practice methods, a quality control procedure that will allow effective data collection through – mail, phone and electronic means.

Methodology Selection - IAP2 (International Association of Public Participation)

The Residents' Panel consults with the IAP2 consultation spectrum in creating an appropriate research method for the consultation at hand.

Our partners

Parramatta Chamber of Commerce is a collection of local businesses and organisations that come together to support and advance items such as Lobbying, Networking, Strategic Alliances, Networking and Information Sharing.

Greypath is a free service that updates Seniors on events that are coming up in there Community.

We are currently looking for partners for networking and knowledge sharing.

If your organisation is interested please contact Wade Clark