Over the last few months we’ve been chatting and swapping stories about our relationships with questions, the importance of thoughtful question asking (and answer receiving), and the possibilities that intentionally creative questions can create.
The survey scenario: North Clackamas School District has worked with Youth Truth for years to gather insights about their schools from students and families. Youth Truth is a project of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, with seeding funding and backing of several large education funders (e.g., Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). As their website states:
Kim & Sheila here, writing with Dr. Alicia Lynch of Lynch Research Associates! We recently chatted about our experiences working on surveys for youth, and the special challenges and considerations in doing so. Administering youth surveys is a common method for measuring the effectiveness of youth programming, tracking trends in behaviors, and understanding youth development….
Kim here, writing once again with my survey design BFF Sheila, of Custom Professional Learning, LLC. Every book published contains a typo. OK, maybe not every book, but we would wager that most probably do. Every song recorded probably has a mistake or two as well. But you wouldn’t imagine that an author’s first draft…
After facilitating a particularly fun abbreviated session of our Designing Quality Survey Questions course with Oregon Community Foundation staff earlier this year, I had a few colleagues approach me separately but with the same “aha” moment: Much of the guidance provided about survey question design applies to other scenarios too, both in and beyond research! …
Kim here, writing once again with my powerhouse survey design partner, Sheila B Robinson. Open-ended questions have the potential to yield high quality, rich, nuanced data that provide deep insights into people’s attitudes, behaviors, experiences, and more. Sometimes we genuinely need open-ended survey questions to capture the information we’re looking for. Open-ended questions often feel…