Data analysis from pilots shows extended‑service and limited‑English clients are underrepresented in surveys
Loading...
Summary
Data presented by Lone Star and Colorado teams shows extended‑service clients and some language groups (Vietnamese, Mandarin) were far less likely to be reached by email surveys, prompting recommendations for multilingual channels and targeted outreach.
Ashley Oborn, director of data analytics for Lone Star Legal Aid, presented analysis of survey response patterns that highlighted equity gaps and office‑level variation.
Oborn said the survey population aligned with overall case volumes in areas such as housing and family law but flagged underrepresentation among income‑maintenance and consumer cases and much lower participation among certain racial and language groups. "There are structural barriers," Oborn said, noting specific email reachability figures: "For English speaking clients, about 5.5% didn't provide an email address. For Spanish speakers that doubles to about 12%. We've got about 70% of our Vietnamese speakers that didn't give us an email address, and about one third of our Mandarin speakers couldn't be reached by email at all." Those gaps mean email‑only surveys will miss many clients unless organizations expand channels.
Oborn also reported office‑level differences that offer replicable practices: several small offices produced disproportionately high response shares, while large centralized intake units (about 40% of cases) had lower engagement. Harris County alone accounted for more than 3,000 surveys in the sample, and rural "tier‑3" counties showed low participation rates.
The analysis found extended‑service clients were consistently underrepresented compared with brief‑service clients — in some categories by as much as 30–36 percentage points — meaning the voices of people in more complex cases are at risk of being omitted from feedback. Oborn recommended targeted outreach (multilingual follow‑up, phone/text channels, QR codes at closing), replication of high‑performing office practices, and tracking to ensure inclusion of small but important case types such as juvenile or employment matters.
Presenters emphasized that closing those gaps is an operational rather than legal problem: expanding survey channels, ensuring translations, and adding community‑based outreach can make the feedback loop more representative and actionable for program improvement.
