CONDUCTING A SURVEY
Why conduct a survey?
To many, conducting a survey may seem pointless. Why gather information if it won't create any impact in itself? However, reading the room you are in can help to create a plan in regards to future action. If set up in the correct way with the right questions, a survey can help to gain a perspective on the needs of your local community’s needs and awareness concerning pollution. What’s more unnecessary, gaining possibly valuable information or taking pointless action which results in a miniscule impact?
How can you conduct a survey?
With the idea of an air pollution survey, an obvious flaw may surface- how can we make printing and distributing surveys eco-friendly? Well, with today’s technology, no paper is required at all. Websites such as google forms require no previous coding skills, come with preset question formats and are completely free to use. This is not the only advantage of using digital surveys; google forms automatically analyzes data into several formats depending on a question’s type, including pie charts, spreadsheets and bar charts, as well as having the ability to showcase individual responses. All this requires is a google account, which is also free to create.
Here are some main steps you can take to create your own survey:
1. Create a set of questions and decide how you want the responder to answer them- would you prefer a selection of multiple choice tick boxes, or a more personal free-text response? If you’re not sure what to do, use , which will explain how to use google forms.
2. Remember to run these questions through with others- a second opinion can be extremely enlightening, and strengthen good ideas whilst ruling out less creative ones.
3. Send out an email to parents and encourage them to spread the link. In surveys, getting the largest number of people possible will result in the most insightful results, as covering a wide variety of people creates more accurate approximations.
How does this create impact?
Though conducting a survey does not create a tangible impact perse, it provides scaffolding to build greater and more significant change. If we know what our community needs, we will be able to deliver, rather than taking a shot in the dark or doing something which has been done many times before. The Courageous Advocates advocate for awareness and change, but in a way which will impact. We are leaders, not followers, and believe that this is what creates the most extensive and broad influence. If you desire to see a full copy of the results of our own survey, click the button at the bottom of the page for a google drive folder of various elements of data.
The Courageous Advocates’ job is to help the world to be a better place. That could be through
eco-friendly Lessons, sustainability Awards or using Ecosia. All of these can be found on our website where you found this article.
by Isabella, leader of the Courageous Advocates