Analyze Trends by Demographic and Geography

The Aspect Scores Over Time widget lets you track and compare how resident sentiment changes across different geographic areas and demographic groups—cycle by cycle—within your Community Survey or Blockwise dashboard.

This feature helps you answer questions like:

• How do scores differ between geographical areas over time?
  
  
• Are specific demographic groups trending differently over time?
  
  
• Where should I focus my attention based on emerging disparities?
  
  

Where to Find It

You can access this widget in the Summary tab of your Community Survey or Blockwise dashboard. 

How It Works

The widget includes two primary comparison modes—geographic and Demographic—which the user must actively select using the view mode toggle at the top of the widget.

Geographic Comparison

This view lets you compare how different geographic areas are trending over time.

• Same-level areas only: You can compare areas at the same geographic level (e.g., all neighborhoods in a district), but not across levels.
  
  
• Bold reference line: The parent area (e.g., the district) is always shown as a thicker reference line for context.
  
  
• Legend control: Use checkboxes to select/deselect which areas are shown.
  
  
• Default: The selected area, its sub-areas, and its parent are pre-selected.
  
  

Example:

You’ve filtered to District 2. You’ll see:

• A thick reference line for District 2
  
  
• Trend lines for its sub-neighborhoods/areas
  
  
• Ability to toggle specific neighborhoods on or off
  
  

Demographic Comparison

This view lets you compare sentiment across groups within a single demographic category.

• One category at a time: Choose from Age, Ethnicity, Gender, Education, or (for Community Survey) Income.
  
  
• Group comparison only within the same category: You cannot compare across different demographic types (e.g., Age vs. Ethnicity).
  
  
• Bold reference line: The overall score for all groups (within the filter) is shown as a thicker line.
  
  

Example:

You filter for Black/African American respondents and choose Age as the comparison category. You’ll see:

• A bold line for overall sentiment among Black/African American respondents
  
  
• Separate trend lines for each age group within that filtered group

Using Filters and Selectors Together

Your dashboard filters (e.g., for demographics or geographic area) define the population for analysis.
Your widget selectors (e.g., Age groups, specific neighborhoods) let you compare trends within that filtered group.

🛈 If you filter for a group or area, the comparison is limited to the trends within that selection.

Single-Cycle Surveys

If your community has only completed one survey cycle, the widget will display a bar chart view instead of a trend line, because a trend requires multiple data points over time to visualize change.

• Bars show the aspect scores for each group or area selected.
  
  
• You can hover over each bar to see detailed results.
  
  
• The same visual hierarchy applies: overall scores appear as bold bars.

👁️ Visual Indicators

To make comparisons easy at a glance, the widget includes a built-in visual hierarchy:

• Bold lines show the overall group or parent area for context.
  
  
• Hovering over a point reveals a tooltip with scores for that group and cycle.
  
  
• Dotted lines indicate missing data between valid points (e.g., due to low sample size).

Handling Missing or Limited Data

• Cycles with insufficient sample size: These will be skipped in the trend line and shown as dotted lines connecting valid data points.
  
  
• Groups/areas with no data: These are grayed out in the legend and cannot be selected.
  
  
• Hovering over missing data points shows a tooltip explaining the reason (e.g., "Not enough responses").

Quick Tips

• Use the interactive legend to customize which lines appear on the graph.
  
  
• The thicker line always represents the overall or parent division score for context.
  
  
• Switch between comparison modes using the toggle at the top right of the widget.
  
  

Need Help?

If you’re unsure how to interpret the trends or want to explore what they mean for your community, your Customer Success Manager is happy to walk through your dashboard and help you apply the insights.