Ideas for Maximizing Survey Participation

Student Organizations or Coursework
Consider offering the survey as a service project to one or more of your student organizations. Involve them in generating ideas for ways to get completed surveys from the greatest number of people possible. Concepts such as survey reliability etc. could be part of math courses. Students in such courses could undertake the project of getting the most reliable data possible for various subgroups.

Offer Pencil/Paper Versions
Give survey takers the option of taking the survey on paper. Many people do not have access to computers or the internet. Others may be intimidated or hesitant to enter personal data. Whenever providing information about the online version, include a paper copy of the survey. Print it as self-mailer to ensure completed surveys are returned to you.

Paper responses will need to be entered online for the data to be included in the results. Remember to build in adequate time in your survey project timelines to allow this to happen for large numbers of paper surveys.

Utilize Open Houses, School Performances or Athletic Events
Have the surveys booted up in your school computer lab during open house. Provide students or other resource people to help survey takers use the online version. Always have paper copies available as an option. Include paper copiers of the survey in programs handed out for school programs etc. Ask people to complete the survey during intermission or when they get home. Provide a “reward” for people who take the survey and turn it in before they leave the event. Rewards could be bumper stickers, passes to athletic events or other school events.

Utilize Community Resources
If you want to gather the perceptions of people in the community, go to the places they congregate. Include information about the survey project in church bulletins, present your project at city or town council meetings and Senior Centers. Garner the support of public library staff. Many people have access to the internet only through the public Library. If librarians are familiar with the project, they may be willing to advertise the survey at the library and assist library patrons in taking the survey.

Keep the Survey Project Small
When deciding which survey/s to use, keep the surveys to a minimum. Each survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. If you administer all 8 surveys at once, you are asking people to spend 1 hour and 20 minutes filling out surveys. Consider people’s time when selecting your surveys

Communicate Clearly and Frequently
Don’t rely on just one method of recruiting survey takers. Advertise the survey project in many ways including direct mail, newsletters, newspapers, radio or announcements sent home with students. A good rule of thumb is to advertise the survey (or any school initiative) at least 5 times or by utilizing 5 different methods.