Step 1: Research and Study Design

Oct. 1, 2019 → Dec. 30, 2019

Status: Complete

Along with our industry partner, in Step 1 we envisioned how the study could work. Together, we explored different methods that could be used to measure residents’ wellbeing throughout time. We selected the following methods:

  • Surveys
  • Space assessments
  • Social patterns assessments

With these three methods we will be able to collect quantitative and quantitative data to determine residents’ social wellbeing. While these are the initial methods that we will use, we understand that all studies can evolve, so we are keeping a flexible approach and hoping there are other methods we can incorporate. 

We also identified the guiding frameworks that were crucial to determine the social wellbeing variables we wanted to measure. We used two main frameworks: 

Based on the guiding frameworks, we identified the variables that we wanted to measure. In this initiative’s case the variables include: 

  • Tenure
  • Spatial inclusion
  • Sense of belonging
  • Social connectedness
  • Resilience
  • Level of engagement
  • Health
  • Sense of safety

To prepare for the next phase, we began looking at precedent studies (for post-occupancy studies of co-housing projects) and gathering questions for the baseline survey with residents from National and other surveys with larger sample sizes. Some of the reviewed surveys include: 

  • Vital Signs 2019 Vancouver Foundation survey
  • Toronto Social Capital Study (2017)
  • Catalyst survey (Hey Neighbour Collective, 2018-2019)
  • Hey Neighbour Pilot (2018)
  • General Social Survey (Statistics Canada, 2013)
  • My Health My Community (2019, to be released)
  • Canadian Community Health Survey (Statistics Canada, 2016)
  • National Household Survey (Statistics Canada, 2016)
  • Post-Occupancy Evaluation Survey of Recent Multi-family Developments (City of North Vancouver, 2008)

What is the Hey Neighbour Collective?

Hey Neighbour Collective is an interdisciplinary group of developers, academic researchers, property managers and consulting firms aiming to make social connectedness an integral part of existing and future multi-unit developments. Learn more here.

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