Alleghany High School students will soon be calling local residents as part of the Sparta Revitalization Committee's economic survey efforts. Susan Miles Reinhardt, chairman of the SRC's economic restructuring subcommittee, said students in Lewis Wagoner's marketing class plan to begin the random sampling of Alleghany residences in early October. Under Wagoner's supervision, the students will be calling homes between 6 and 8 p.m. Inquiries will be made concerning consumers' shopping patterns, preferences, perceptions of Sparta and Alleghany County and suggestions.
Reinhardt said the students have already conducted a survey of students and staff at AHS. At Monday's SRC meeting, Reinhardt described that survey as a trial run for the poll of the county as a whole. The results of that preliminary survey have not yet been tabulated, she said. "It's a lot bigger job tabulating it than he (Wagoner) ever imagined because of all the comments."
Reinhardt said she is interested in those results. "The students are going to be the leaders. It's wonderful to start with students, find out what their ideas are," she commented.
SRC member Albert Miller said those might prove to be the most valuable survey results.
Reinhardt said that after looking at the students' comments, "We'll tweak what we need to" before the community survey begins in October. The SRC also plans to conduct a written survey of local businesses at the same time as the consumer survey.
Committee members have said they hope survey results will help lead to finding ways to encourage local shopping and recruit new merchants. Compiling the results may take some time. "If we get as many comments as with the students, it will take a while — and I want some comments," said Reinhardt. "We're going to get some comments, some negative, some positive, and we're going to get some bang-up ideas."
Some consumer surveys will be distributed in written form to targeted sectors of the county, such as government leaders or specific geographic areas. However, the primary survey effort will be the random-sampling telephone calls done by the students. Results of that survey will be used as the primary decision-making tool.
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