Survey for Students

When a school has agreed to conduct a survey to gather information and data, a number of questions need to be considered:

Who will develop the survey?
Who will participate in the survey?
How will participation in the survey be managed?
What will happen with the data, now and later?
Who will have access to the data?
Can the data be used to inform other initiatives?

Generally it is unwise to survey staff unless the school is prepared to discuss the results. A well-handled discussion of a representative survey result can provide some of the best professional development opportunities available to a school.

Surveys of any type cause some level of disruption to schools. Therefore, provision needs to be made in the timeline for:

organisation of the survey
the process of undertaking it
compiling and publishing results
opportunities to analyse and interpret the data.

Often a balance can be struck between what sorts of data might ideally be available and what is culturally acceptable for the school.

Timing of the survey is often crucial in determining the level and types of responses. It may be useful to undertake a two-stage data gathering exercise at the beginning of the project consisting of:

a short survey or audit that is indicative of direction and useful for planning
a longer and more detailed survey before the intervention begins.

If the surveys are part of the MindMatters data gathering, then they need to be conducted before the planned strategy or intervention, apply the intervention, and be able to be repeated after the timeframe for the initiative has elapsed.

Surveys can benefit from piloting, or gaining some outside help in both developing and delivering them.

Parents need information to be sent to them prior to the surveys and follow-up needs to be conducted to ensure that responses are obtained.

Student surveys can benefit from student involvement in terms of:

advice to core groups about the language or the question type
publicising the surveys
involvement in the analysis of results.

Staff surveys can benefit from being taken on-line and involving staff in creating the survey and analysing the results.

An example of a rapid survey is available here.

Schools may develop their own rapid survey by accessing suitable questions from the long survey to support the schools’ initiative or strategic plan.