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I love a good survey. Whether it be to get feedback on a professional learning session or my school’s culture, I enjoy hearing what other people think and feel. I crave to know what is going through people’s minds.
I’ll admit, I probably annoy my loved ones quite a bit as I frequently ask them, “What are you thinking about?” I remember doing this as a young girl - always fascinated that each person I encountered had a million thoughts and feelings all bottled up inside.
This inquisitiveness has persisted into adulthood.
I’d like to think it has served me well. I have always understood that I don’t have all the answers and that acquiring others’ perspectives can strengthen my ability to accomplish tasks and improve.
I know my view on feedback might not be all that common as some fear what others think or say. For me, I don’t fear it but hope to understand it. I hope to learn from it. I hope to become better.
As a teacher, I would give my students surveys in the middle and at the end of the year and sometimes sprinkled throughout. I wanted to gauge their view on how things were going. I wanted to know what they thought and if what I was doing was effective for them.
Giving a survey can be a valuable instrument to help you understand the attitudes and/or behaviors of your stakeholders.
As a school leader who values listening to feedback and collaboration, I want to do the same as when I was a teacher. I want to take what others think, weigh it, and figure out how we can move forward. I might think I am doing a fabulous job or that everything is fine and dandy, but that might not be the case which is why giving stakeholders surveys can drastically improve your school.
In this week’s post, we will explore why you should give surveys. We will dive into these whys to ground our understanding of the survey process. Then, I’ll provide a five-step process on how to give a survey and utilize the results to better your school community.
Why You Should Give Surveys
Giving a survey can be a valuable instrument to help you understand the attitudes and/or behaviors of your stakeholders. Putting on your researcher hat, you want to make sure your survey is valid and measures what it is intended to measure. If you can find a survey that has been given previously, then that can be a helpful starting point for your own valid survey (Rubenfeld , 2004).
Giving a survey can also help to evoke discussion and give voice to individuals who might not always have a voice (David, 2024).
Some common reasons organizations give surveys include:
Discover answers
You’ll be able to figure out what might motivate or inspire respondents. Now, there is controversy over whether or not a survey should be anonymous (DeFranzo,
2022). I will never give an anonymous survey. I do not think anonymous surveys do
anything good for a school’s culture or the recipient's mental health.
The survey designer is a person, too, with thoughts and feelings. An anonymous
survey gives people carte blanche to blast someone without any accountability. We
must respectfully communicate our concerns and keeping a survey tied to
someone’s name does this.
2. Generate discussion
Giving a survey can also help to evoke discussion and give voice to individuals who might not always have a voice (David, 2024). You can provide a space to explore
relevant or important topics tied to your goals. You can elicit broad perspectives
that will hopefully help you plan forward (DeFranzo, 2022). Now, some of the
discussion may wind up being negative (Survey Monkey, n.d.), but remember Q-Tip
3. To inform decisions
Sometimes people give surveys to help ground their decisions. They need some
objective information that will help them make important decisions (DeFranzo,
2022). You can basically figure out the strengths and weaknesses of your
organization or a proposed idea and plan forward considering that data (David,
4. Compare results
`Finally, you can give the same survey before and after an intervention or some
implementation of an idea. This will allow you to see if your changes have been
successful (DeFranzo, 2022).
What you learn from any given survey is authentic, first-hand data that can help you define and/or reach your goals. Your survey can provide you with information that permits you to understand your stakeholders (Survey Monkey, n.d.). And as Covey stated, "Seek first to understand and then to be understood."
How to Utilize Surveys to Improve Your School
We all want to get better, but how do we go about doing so? One tried and true method is the survey. We can see why a survey might be helpful for leaders and now we will see how you can use a survey to improve your school.
1. Determine the purpose
Before you start anything, you must use a backward design approach – what is the ultimate goal of the survey? What do you hope to learn? Something I recommend is aligning your survey with the goals you set for the school year. Whether that is creating a sense of belonging or increasing academic success for students, survey questions should be tied to an overarching goal.
Something else you can connect your survey to is your core values. Whether that is your personal core values or the values of your organization, see if you are emulating those values in what you are doing as a school and/or school leader.
Once you have an established purpose, then you need to roll up your sleeves and start creating.
2. Create and plan
Now the rubber hits the road with this next step… it’s time to craft your survey considering your purpose. Will you go quant or qual with your survey? Maybe you can’t decide and decide to pursue the mixed methods route, sprinkling in a little bit of each.
Whichever type of questions you decide upon, keep them focused and limited. Less is more. While open-ended may seem daunting, if you keep it to 4-5, the feedback you get can add the human element. The choice is yours with the type of questions.
You of course need to consider the audience as well when crafting the questions. If you are sending a survey to younger students, the wording will look much different than older students or adults.
Next, I recommend contextualizing in an email or opening paragraph what you hope to accomplish, again this adds a dash of humanity. Don’t just jump into the questions or have a one-liner to begin the survey. Have an authentic opening that allows your voice to shine.
If your population speaks different languages, make sure you offer translated copies. Varying delivery methods can also increase the likelihood that participants will complete the survey.
Before you start anything, you must use a backward design approach – what is the ultimate goal of the survey? What do you hope to learn?
3. Digest Slowly
When you finally get a chance to begin reviewing the survey data, do it slowly and in waves. Read through the comments once to get an overview of the data. Have some thinking partners to help you with the feedback as well. You must lower your defenses and allow the survey data to simmer. Don’t bring it to a roaring boil. Take time to process and organize it.
4. Determine common themes
There are different ways you can approach feedback, and I recommend the Feedforward Framework. Ultimately, when you get your data back, you need to complete the arduous task of combing through it in multiple iterations. With each iteration, see what you can uncover, which is a more grounded theory approach (Chun et al., 2017).
When you go through this process, examine the feedback objectively and remember that Q-TIP acronym as you might read some things that sting. These themes will be the backbone of what’s to come and what can be…. your action plan.
5. Create an action plan
Any good action plan is grounded in concrete data. The data you gather to create your common themes will inform your action plan. Developing a solid action plan is a task unto itself and, in all honesty, could use its own blog post.
Basically, you want to ensure that you take each theme and unpack ways to remedy that theme. You want to break down whatever your action is into small steps and acknowledge the short-term wins along the way.
One Last Thought
I just concluded my first survey roll-out as a principal. I gave one to staff and one to parents. I also worked with my student voices group on our last day to get their perspective on our school. I have all of this data waiting to be explored and I’m thrilled to do so.
While I know there are some constructive criticisms awaiting me, I also know there are opportunities to learn and get better. This thirst to become and do better is what drives me as a mom, wife, and educator.
So rather than fearing the unknown or walking blindly forward hoping something will just work, pause, gather your thoughts, determine your goals, and survey up!
References
Chun Tie, Y., Birks, M., & Francis, K. (2019). Grounded theory research: A design framework for novice researchers. SAGE open medicine, 7, 2050312118822927.
‘David, E. (2024, April 1). What is the Purpose of Surveys & What Are Its Benefits? ProProfs Survey Blog. https://www.proprofssurvey.com/blog/what-is-the-purpose-of-surveys/
DeFranzo, S. E., & DeFranzo, S. E. (2022, August 15). The 4 main reasons to conduct surveys. SnapSurveys Blog. https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/4-main-reasons-conduct-surveys/
Rubenfeld, G. D. (2004). Surveys: an introduction. Respiratory care, 49(10), 1181-1185.
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