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Who to Survey?
Obtaining Consent
How to Survey
 
 
 

Who Should We Survey?

  • Survey a mix of youth who come to the Club during the survey period.

    • Survey members from every age group that attends the Club.

    • Either survey all Club youth, or select a representative sample that includes representatives of each age group, all ethnic groups and an equal number of boys and girls.

    • If you are only surveying a representative sample, try to survey the “regulars” and leaders, youth who do not attend often, and those who tend to keep to themselves or who are otherwise more challenging to engage.

    • Survey 30 or more youth at each grade level (elementary, middle and high school) to ensure a broad-based sample of youth experiences and behavior. The more youth you have taking each grade-level survey, the more confident you can be in generalizing about the results.
   

  • Survey only those youth for whom you have parent/guardian consent to participate.

    • Youth younger than age 18 must have parent/guardian permission to complete surveys.

    • Before survey administration begins, make a list of youth for whom you have parent/guardian consent letters on file giving permission for their youth to participate in the surveys.

    • Send letters requesting consent for youth participation to parents/guardians, allowing several weeks to obtain consent from the parents/guardians of all students to be surveyed.

    • Ask only those youth for whom you have parent/guardian permission to complete surveys.
Helpful Hint
You must have parental consent from all youth who will take the surveys. To be sure that your survey data will reflect the ideas of most youth in your Club, it will be important to obtain consent from as many parents/guardians as possible. Using passive consent letters, in which parents reply only if they do not want their children to participate, is the quickest way to get widespread consent. If you know parents in your community well, this is a good solution. If you don’t know your parents well, you might want to explain the surveys and seek their active consent to be sure they understand the goals and procedures of the survey process.
  • Just do it!
    Use your first rounds of survey collection as a learning experience. Use a convenient sample of youth, like your frequent attendees, as a starting point. The data you obtain won’t be as good, but it will provide some indicators of the effects of the Club experience on youth.

    With this convenient sample under your belt, take time to reflect on the experience.
    • Who didn’t get surveyed? How can we include them next time?
    • Who on my staff or in the central office needs to be involved in this process?
    • Was this the best time of year to survey members? Why or why not?
    • What information gathered through the surveys was important to me? To our chief professional officer? To our board of directors?
    • What questions did the surveys or the process spark?
    • What additional training or technical assistance do we need?

Go to Obtaining Consent for more details about the need for parent/guardian consent, types of consent, tips on writing effective consent letters and samples of letters that you can customize for your Club.

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