Assignment #5
Designing and Evaluating a Short Survey
Designing and Evaluating a Short Survey
I chose to
design a survey for the staff at Bishop Murray High School with the intention
of discovering what programs are beneficial to help retain First Nations
Students. According to the statistics I acquired from the school, graduation
rates for First Nations students continues to be much lower than the other
students. I felt it was important to survey teachers who have been working with
First Nations and other struggling students for many years.
My experience has taught me that working as a
team is much more beneficial, therefore,
I asked for assistance from teachers who work at the school. Before I started
to design the survey, I interviewed a staff member to discuss the various
programs that are offered, the alternative structure of the school, the staff
involvement, as well involvement from outsides partners. I examined
pre-existing charts, statistics, program brochures and the 2013 school
handbook. Next I reflected on my logic model focusing on my short, medium and
long term outcomes. I prepared a list of questions that I felt reflected the
assumed needs of First Nations students and the programs being offered. A
second meeting took place to review the questions, determine if the
instructions were clear and decide if there was overlap within the survey. Two
staff members provided input; advice was given, discussed and received
gratefully.
I made three
surveys in total. The first one, as discussed above, I did not post but changes
were made as outlined below.
#3– The staff members felt that I
needed to change Recreation Activities to Recreation and Wellness because there
was some overlap in my original question. They also remembered a program that
had not been mentioned so I added “Quad Program” to the list as well as a
smaller scale “Breakfast Program” that they agreed was important to
include.
#6 We discussed the importance of using
the term “cohesive staff unit” and decided that the majority of teachers who
choose to work in an alternative setting are very motivated to see improvements
and work as a team. Therefore, we omitted it.
#7 We noticed a grammar error.
#8 We noticed a grammar and spelling
error.
Before I
asked the participants to complete the survey, I made sure that I used a color (blue)
that historically speaking, provides a better response/return. I also made the
questions in bold type and ensured that all of the writing had the same font
size.
Here is the
second survey after we made the changes agreed upon above. I copied and pasted
it to word. I wasn't sure how to make question 6 fit properly but it looked
fine on the survey link. It is also posted a second time and the criteria turned out just fine there. As well, some circles in question six did not show up. Oh well, technology......
Bishop Murray
Programming/Services for First Nations Students
Please complete the following
survey by February 28th, 2013. Your responses will help to provide
better programming for First Nations students at your school. Please be aware
that all comments provided are confidential.
1. Do you feel Bishop Murray offers enough
programs and support for First Nations students?
*
2. Do you feel these programs help improve
attendance and decrease dropout rates
for First Nations students?
3. Number the Programs
and Services offered at Bishop Murray from most helpful to least helpful. Most
being 1 and least
being 10.
One
Room School
Block
Program
Daycare
Adult
12 Program
Career
and Work Exploration
Addictions
Counseling
Electives
Program
Recreation
and Wellness Activities
Quad
Program
Breakfast
Program
*
4. How informed did you feel about these
programs when you first started teaching at Bishop Murray?
*
5. Do you think it would
be beneficial to receive specific information and updates on the programs being
offered?
6. What items do you feel would increase First Nation students' attendance? Please rate the items on a scale from 1 (no impact) to 5 (very high impact).
|
No Impact
|
Low Impact
|
Moderate Impact
|
High Impact
|
Very High Impact
| |
Higher focus on
curriculum
|
|||||
More resources for
classroom instruction
|
|||||
Inservices for teachers
|
|||||
Diverse programming,
including inquiry based
|
|||||
Increasing community
work through
curriculum |
|||||
Weekly staff and
admin communication
|
|||||
Follow through on
Personal Program Plans |
|||||
Increase of more staff
support in classrooms |
|||||
HIgher focus on
wellness and Physical Education |
|||||
Facility/Building
improvements to support programming |
|||||
Scheduled ongoing
counselling for students |
|||||
Increase in agency
support (Example: mental health) |
*
7. What do you think has
been the most beneficial program or support for your First Nations students to
date? Why?
8. What do you feel has
been the least beneficial program or support for your First Nations Students?
Why?
*
9. In your opinion, what
could be done to improve the programming at Bishop Murray High School for First
Nations students?
*
10. Since you have been working at Bishop
Murray, do you think the programs have improved or changed? If so, in what
ways?
*
At this time If there is any additional
information you would like to add on the programming or supports for First
Nations students at your school, please feel free use the space below.
Thank you for
taking the time to complete this survey!
*********************************************************************************
I sent the
participants a link to the survey via e-mail. All of the participants completed
it. Once I collected the responses, I compiled the results and made notes on
the answers. I decided that more changes were needed as outlined below.
Question # 8
Several responses given provided information but two of them did not. I believe
the participants may have been worried about ‘slamming’ one of the programs.
Therefore, I decided to rephrase the question.
Question #10
Because I used survey monkey, it only allowed for 10 questions and I was not
able to ask for the participants to add any additional information within its
own space. Although they answered the
questions in detail, on a larger scale I would be worried that additional
information could be missed. Therefore, I would separate the two questions.
Here is the
final copy of the survey that I would send out.
Bishop Murray
Programming/Services for First Nations Students
Please complete the following survey by February 28th, 2013. Your responses will help to provide better programming for First Nations students at your school. Please be aware that all comments provided are confidential.
1. Do you feel Bishop Murray offers enough programs and support
for First Nations students?
*
2. Do you feel these programs help improve attendance and decrease drop out
rates for First Nations students?
Strongly
Agree
|
*
3. Number the Programs and
Services offered at Bishop Murray from most helpful to least helpful. Most
being 1 and least being 10.
One
Room School
Block Program
Daycare
Adult 12 Program
Career and Work Exploration
Addictions Counseling
Electives Program
Recreation and Wellness Activities
Quad Program
Breakfast Program
*
4. How informed did you feel about these programs when you first started teaching at Bishop Murray?
*
5. Do you think it would be beneficial to receive specific
information and updates on the programs being offered?
*
6. What items do you feel would increase First Nation students'
attendance? Please rate the items on a scale from 1 (no impact) to 5 (very high
impact).
No Impact
|
Low Impact
|
Moderate Impact
|
High Impact
|
Very High Impact
|
|
Higher focus on
curriculum
|
|||||
More resources for
classroom instruction
|
|||||
Inservices for
teachers
|
|||||
Diverse programming,
including inquiry based
|
|||||
Increasing community
work through curriculum
|
|||||
Weekly staff and
administration communication
|
|||||
Follow through on
Personal Program Plans (PPP's)
|
|||||
Increase of staff
support in classrooms
|
|||||
Higher focus on
wellness and Physical Education
|
|||||
Facility/building
improvements to support programming
|
|||||
Scheduled ongoing
counseling for students
|
|||||
Increase in agency
support (example: mental health)
|
*
7. What do you think has been the most beneficial
program or support for your First Nations students to date? Why?
*
8. If you could choose a program to improve,
which one would it be and how would you improve it? (You
can mention more than one.)
*
9. In your opinion, what could be done to
improve the programming at Bishop Murray High School for First Nations students?
*
10. Since you have been working at Bishop Murray, do you think the programs
have improved or changed? If so, in what ways?
11. At this time, If there
is any additional information you would like to add on the programming or
supports for First Nations students at your school, please feel free use the
space below.

******************************************************************************
In
conclusion, I would like to add that if I was taking the next class, I would
design a survey for the students and administration as well. Gathering
information from more stakeholders would provide a more thorough synopsis of
the programming successes and areas that need improvement.