The Mad River Valley Wellbeing Survey was created to provide our community with a deeper understanding of how the MRV’s people, environment, and local economy are doing.
In what ways are we thriving, or struggling? Where can we improve? How does wellbeing in the MRV compare to the rest of Vermont?
This survey is conducted by the Mad River Valley Planning District (MRVPD) as part of the MRV Community Dashboard project. The MRV Community Dashboard is an MRVPD initiative launched in summer 2020 to improve overall well-being and resilience in the MRV. By enhancing and expanding the MRVPD's annual MRV Data Report, the goal is to better support the ability of community members and decision-makers to access, interpret, and incorporate relevant local data.
Any full or part-time resident of Warren, Waitsfield or Fayston* may take the survey. Youth participation is encouraged!
*MRVPD was founded and is supported by these three towns.
Survey questions are based on the Vermont Happiness Study led by the University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies, the Vermont State Data Center, and Gross National Happiness USA. A few questions were added or adjusted by the MRV Community Dashboard Advisory Committee to better reflect the specific needs of the Mad River Valley.
The survey has a long and interesting history! The Vermont Happiness Study is in fact based on the "Gross National Happiness Index" created by the Happiness Alliance, a non-profit that helps communities access and utilize tools and research to implement wellbeing metrics. The Index is a scientifically vetted and valid instrument for measuring wellbeing; the methodology was developed by the Happiness Alliance's Laura Musikanski with researchers from Arizona State University, and can be found here. The survey questions found in each of these survey iterations are largely taken from existing wellbeing surveys or other documented sources; see Appendix A on p. 20 of Musikanski et al. for a detailed overview of question sources.
In addition to not re-inventing the wheel by relying on an existing, tested survey source, we will be able to compare the results from the MRV Wellbeing Survey to the Vermont Happiness Study, which will give us a useful benchmark with which to measure against.
The MRV Wellbeing Survey is distributed electronically primarily via email listservs, Front Porch Forum, and social media. Physical copies are available at the Warren, Waitsfield, and Fayston town offices, the MRVPD office, and the Joslin and Warren libraries.
While we are unlikely to be able to reach enough respondents to create a representative sample, the more folks take the survey, the more accurate a picture of wellbeing we'll be able to see. Please share the survey with your networks, and if you have any suggestions for how we can further our reach, please feel free to let us know!