Survey

Overview: Survey

A survey is a common data collection method. Most people are familiar with them and have taken a survey at some point in their lives. Surveys are used to gather basic information from a large number of people.

Surveys are primarily a quantitative data collection method, which means that they focus on things you can count. Most survey data is presented as numbers instead of words or stories. If you ask open-ended questions, you can count how often a theme appears in the responses.

Most surveys are often written and administered on paper or online. You can also conduct a survey over the phone or in person; this is especially common if you want input from people who speak multiple languages.

You will most likely use a survey if you want to quickly gather information from a lot of people in your school or community.

Consider the following tips when developing your survey:

  • Keep the survey short (5-10 questions). If the survey is too long, respondents may get tired of answering questions and skip questions or answer them without thinking about their answers. This will affect your analysis and the quality of information you are able to gather.

  • Think about the format of the survey. It should be clear and easy to complete. Again, formatting helps to make sure that your respondents think about and answer all the questions.

  • One thing that helps is having a consistent scale - the response options you provide.

  • Questions should be easy for everyone to understand with clear instructions.

  • Consider including demographic information in the survey so that you can analyze results according to things like race or ethnicity, age, grade, etc. Think about what kinds of factors might influence people’s answers or what kinds of things you are interested in learning.

  • WHO will you distribute the survey to? Think about what groups in your school you want to make sure to include (demographic groups, grades, different clubs or special interest groups, teachers and administrators). Should you make different versions of a survey or different surveys entirely for different groups (for example, students and teachers)?

  • Think about HOW you will distribute the survey. How will you get the most people to respond? Do you want to use multiple strategies to distribute the survey? Some distribution methods include: handing out the survey in person, providing the survey to teachers to distribute in class, making surveys available in a common area, asking people survey questions in person, or offering the survey online.

  • Include a statement explaining that responses are voluntary and confidential. This means that respondents don’t have to answer any questions they don’t want to and that any information they provide will not be shared outside of the research team.

At the end of this section are some resources that will help you create surveys for you project. It is often helpful to pilot a survey before you distribute it to all desired respondents. This means that you have a small group complete the survey to see how they interpret and respond to your survey and if they have any challenges. You can then make necessary changes, such as modifying the questions or format, before distributing the full survey.

YPE Survey Examples

YPE teams across MPS have developed and administered many surveys over the years. They have learned a lot about the process and want to share their surveys with other YPE teams!

Many students feel strongly about the way we ask respondents about their identities. Common language from YPE students include:

    • How do you identify your race/ethnicity?

    • How do you identify your gender?

Teams often want to include an opportunity to write in a response, as well a bubble for "Prefer not to respond." You should also decide as a team if you want to create a category for "Two or more races" or to instruct respondents to "Check all that apply."

MPS has to create race/ethnicity categories to present data by student group. The State of Minnesota instructs that we use the following categories:

    • African American

    • American Indian

    • Asian

    • Hispanic/Latino

    • Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

    • White

    • Two or More

Common changes from YPE students include an interest to separate out certain ethnic groups with large populations in Minneapolis, such as Somali or Hmong. Other teams have changed Latino to Latinx to include all gender identities.

Click here to see survey examples from Keewaydin, South, and Washburn.

Activity: What Makes a Good Survey?

These resources are designed to help your team think about writing a good survey. Remember to ask your Evaluation Coach to review your survey before you begin administration!

More Resources

For many more resources on Survey Design, see the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) Hub's Survey activities: