Surveys

WARM-UP: Matching Exercise (10 minutes)

Materials: Print out an example of a survey related to your group's chosen focus issue. Print out two copies of the survey and cut them up so that each survey question is on a separate slip of paper.

• Write four headings on the board: Demographic, Knowledge, Belief, Behavior. Explain that these are four different types of survey questions.
• Divide participants into two groups and hand out cut up survey questions. Tell them that they are in a race to group these survey questions into the four categories. Set a timer for 5 minutes (5 minutes).
• Review results as a class and answer questions (5 minutes).

ENGAGE: Survey Scavenger Hunt (20 minutes)

Materials: Print out copies of a press release related to your group's focus issue. Example: press release about a survey called “Stress in America" http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/02/teen-stress.aspx)

• Explain that this press release presents the results of a survey, just like your group will at some point be presenting the results of their survey.
• As individuals or in small groups, students should do a “scavenger hunt” to find survey results from the press release that fit into each of the 4 question categories. As an alternative, you may divide students up into teams and have a competition for which team can come up with the most examples. (10 minutes)
  • Example: “23 percent of teens report skipping a meal in the past month due to stress” is a behavior question. "Teens report that their stress level during the school year far exceeds what they believe to be healthy” is a belief question.
• Ask groups to share their results. (10 minutes)

CORE ACTIVITY: Generate Questions (40 minutes)

Materials: Types of Information handout, Types of Questions handout

• Review the research objective that you brainstormed in previous lessons
• Place four separate pieces of chart paper at the front of the room, one for each type of information: Demographic, Knowledge, Opinion Behavior. Distribute the Types of Information handout and briefly review the four definitions if you haven't already.
• Class round robin (10 minutes)
  • Divide class into four groups and place each group in front of a chart paper.
  • Each group has 2 minutes to brainstorm questions that fit in that category.
  • At the end of 2 minutes, each group should rotate. They can read what has already been written and add other ideas.
• Small group revision (20 minutes)
  • When everyone has returned to their original spots, ask them to sit down and revise the ideas on their chart paper into a final list of questions. Distribute the Types of Questions handout and review as a full group. For each question that groups write, they should decide on the question type, the answer type, and what the question should actually be.
  • Facilitators should circulate around the room. If students get stuck, ask:
    • What kind of information is this question trying to ask?
    • What type of question will get this information?
    • Are there multiple ways to ask this question?
• Group Revision (10 minutes)
  • Each group should present their questions. As a class, revise and change until you have a final list. Ask:
    • Are all these things essential?
    • Does this give us what we need to move further on our topic?
    • Does this answer one of our research objectives?
    • Is there anything else on here that we are asking only because we are curious? (i.e, that doesn't address one of our objectives)
• Survey Draft
  • At the end of the lesson, the group should make a master list of all of the questions generated in order to create an initial survey draft. Facilitators may type this list into a survey on their own time, or ask students to do so during class time.

WARM-UP: Writing good survey questions (10 minutes)

Materials: Violence Survey

• Divide group into pairs. Hand out the "Violence Survey". In pairs, students should complete the worksheet, trying to determine what each question is trying to ask and what is wrong with each question or answer choice. (5 minutes)
• When everyone is done, review answers for what was wrong with the question. Put types of mistakes into categories (e.g the question doesn't make sense, is biased, only allows one answer, is too personal, is asking too much). (5 minutes)
• Summarize: writing a question that is neutral, clear, and thoughtful is not easy. All questions should follow these guidelines. The question:
  • Makes sense
  • Is concrete and specific
  • Has no biased words or phrases
  • Does not reflect personal beliefs
  • Is not too personal
  • Is only one thought
  • Has no culturally specific words or phrases

CORE ACTIVITY: Finalizing your survey (50 minutes)

Materials: First draft of survey.

• Pre-test (15 minutes)
  • Distribute the first draft of your survey and ask each student to practice taking the survey. Time how long it takes students to complete the survey. Alternatively: students can find peers not in the YPAR group to pre-test their survey. This could take place during or outside of class.
• Revise (15 minutes)
  • When finished, ask students to put thumbs up or thumbs down for the following questions. Ask students to further explain their responses and make recommendations.
    • This survey was easy to take
    • The questions were clear
    • The survey was too long
    • The survey asked too many personal questions
• Group discussion (10 minutes)
  • Based on the information we now have, what questions do we need to change? Are there questions we need to add? Anything to get rid of?
  • Based on revisions, create a final version of your survey. If there were substantial revisions, you may need to do another pre-test.
• Planning for survey administration (10 minutes)
  • Discuss the following as a group:
    • Who is our target audience for our survey? (students, community members)
    • How will we administer our survey? (after school, during class time, lunchtime, etc..)
    • Set a date to administer the survey

CORE ACTIVITY: Administering the Survey

How you will administer the survey will depend on your limitations in the school, organization, or neighborhood. The following is ideal; however, you will have to work within the situation you have.

VERSION 1: For a web-based survey

• Have two participants from the research team in the computer lab while the survey is being taken.
• Students will stay in the room unobtrusively and be available to answer questions while survey-takers take the survey.
• Staff should maintain order but be as uninvolved as possible in order to make survey-takers feel safe while answering the questions.

VERSION 2: For a paper survey

• Send two participants from the research team to each class that will take the survey.
• Students will stay in the room unobtrusively while survey-takers take the survey.
• Staff should maintain order but be as uninvolved as possible in order to make survey-takers feel safe while answering the questions.
• Survey-takers will put their completed surveys in a folder when they are finished.

CORE ACTIVITY: Tallying Data (45 minutes)

Materials: Make a "Tally sheet" to help students record data from surveys. See example.

• Divide up surveys among students. It may be helpful to number each survey at the upper right corner and give each student a range (for example, "you have numbers 25-45"), so that you can easily keep track as students do their work
• Ask students to record data from their surveys into the tally sheet
• On a large piece of chart paper, write down each of your survey questions with their answer choices. See example. If you are dividing your responses among some demographic categories, such as men and women, then make a separate column for each of these.
• Ask students to come to the wall and write out their tally results
• Combine tallies for your final survey results!