SURVEY METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCES
The Pennsylvania K–12 & School Choice Survey project, funded by EdChoice, developed by EdChoice and
Commonwealth Foundation, and conducted by Braun Research Incorporated (BRI), interviewed adults (age
18+) who are Registered Voters in the State of Pennsylvania. A total of 1,407 interviews were conducted using an
online methodology from February 23, 2020 through March 11, 2020. The total N size includes a statewide base
and oversamples in Allegheny County, the City of Philadelphia, and Harrisburg/Dauphin County. The margin of
sampling error for this study overall is +/- 2.61% (95% confidence level).
Phone:
Within the phone portion of this study, BRI conducted a total of n=137 telephone interviews, from February 23, 2020
through March 11, 2020, by means of both landline and cell phone.
The margin of sampling error for the entire phone sample (N=137) of interviews is +/- 8.37% (95% confidence level).
BRI’s live callers conducted all phone interviews.
• Adult Voters 18+ Respondents:
o 19,846 in total – 10,976 landline; 8,870 cell
o Of these calls 6,483 [3,574 landline, 2,909 cell] were unusable phone numbers
(disconnected, fax, busy, non-residential, or non-answers, etc.);
o 13,086 [7,523 landline, 5,833 cell] were usable numbers but eligibility unknown
(including refusals and voicemail); and
o 34 [15 landline, 19 cell] people did not complete the survey.
o The average response rate of the landline interviews was 1.1%.
o The average response rate of the cell phone interviews was 0.5%.
Details on sample dispositions, landline, and cell phone response rates, and weighting are discussed in following
sections.
Sample Design
A combination of landline and cellular random digit dial (RDD) samples was used to represent Adults 18+ in Dauphin
County/Harrisburg, and in the ‘Eastern region’ of Pennsylvania, who have access to either a landline or cellular
telephone. Both samples were provided by Dynata (formerly Survey Sampling International, LLC, or SSI) according
to BRI specifications.
Dynata starts with a database of all listed telephone numbers, updated on a four- to six-week rolling basis, 25
percent of the listings at a time. All active blocks—contiguous groups of 100 phone numbers for which more than
one residential number is listed—are added to this database. Blocks and exchanges that include only listed business
numbers are excluded.
