Graffiti Wall
A graffiti wall is like a public comment box. You post a large sheet of paper in a common space, like the lunchroom or hallway. On that sheet of paper, you should write a clear question that is easy for everyone to understand. People walking by can then write or draw a response to your question. Depending on your school, you may want to provide pens or markers. You may also want to have YPE members stand near the graffiti wall to answer questions, explain why you're collecting data, and encourage others to participate. Graffiti walls are a great tool to figure out generally how people feel about an issue or topic.
Example: Anthony YPE Team
Anthony's YPE team adapted the graffiti wall method to answer their research question, "What do Anthony students wish their teachers knew about them?"
First, they asked their principal if they could collect data over lunch. Then, they collaborated as a team to identify six specific questions and wrote each one on a large sheet of chart paper.
During lunch, half of the team walked around the lunch room and encouraged students to participate, while the other half stood near the wall with the chart paper and answered students' questions. Every student who responded to their questions was entered into a drawing for a prize!
The Anthony YPE team wanted to be able to easily analyze the data they collected by grade level. So, they decided to use post it notes. Each grade level has a different lunch hour. At the end of each lunch, they removed all the post it notes they collected from that grade. They stored the responses in envelopes so they knew which responses were from which grade. Then, when they analyzed the data, they coded (or sorted) each envelope of post it notes into themes separately so they could see differences by grade level.
Click the button to go back to the Participatory Methods homepage!
