> HOME GETTING STARTED ADMINISTERING SURVEYS TAKING SURVEYS GETTING RESULTS USING RESULTS
 
Why Measure
Outcomes?
What is Measured
Who can use this?
Planning for Success
 
 
 

Planning for Success with Outcomes Measurement

To obtain reliable information from a large enough group of youth to be useful, Club leaders will need to take several key strategic steps before administering surveys. These include:
  • Field-testing survey administration with a small group first
    Administering surveys can be a new experience for youth and leaders. Before your Club starts a round of surveys, ask a small group of youth to help “debug” the system for their peers. Use the experience of this group to plan to help the rest of the survey takers. The field-test respondents can assist Club staff by helping participants log in on the computer or read the survey questions. Remember: The field-test respondents should know and remind other youth that there are no right or wrong answers to the survey questions. Also, while field-test respondents may help other youth log in and even read questions, they must not read the answers of other youth or suggest answers to the survey questions.
  • Selecting survey participants to ensure good sampling
    • Strive to administer surveys to as many youth as possible who come regularly to the Club. If you survey youth over at least two to three days, or a one-week period, you will reach a broader sample of participants. Try for a week to catch youth who do no attend the Club as often.
    • Try to survey at least 30 young people in each grade group (elementary, middle, high school) and plan to extend the survey period to reach this minimum if needed. If you have fewer than 30 youth in a particular grade group, try to survey every member in that group. Remember that the elementary-school survey is designed for children who are at least 9 years old.

     

  • Deciding when to conduct surveys
    • Who needs information from your outcome measurement effort and when do they need it? Schedule survey administration so that you can provide results to these audiences in a timely manner.
    • Aim to survey members at least once annually, possibly in the fall after enrollment has stabilized. Clubs with lots of membership turnover from one school year to another should consider surveying members in the fall and spring.
    • Choose dates when it is likely that most youth will be attending regularly and be sure there are no major competing events at the Club.
    • Conduct your surveys at the same time each year so that results will reflect the viewpoints of youth at the same time from year to year.
  • Communicating with parents and guardians
    You will need to obtain permission from parents or guardians for youth younger than age 18 to take part in the surveys.
    • Clubs that ask permission to survey youth in their membership packet already have passive consent from parents or guardians for their youth to participate in surveys conducted by the Club. It may not be necessary to send an additional special letter. Nonetheless, it is a good idea to let parents know when surveys will be administered and how and why they will be used. This encourages parents’ interest and increases the likelihood of their support.
    • Two weeks before the survey period, tell parents and youth the survey dates.
    • Let parents and youth know how the Tool Kit works and what types of questions youth will be asked.
    • Remind parents and youth that all survey answers are confidential. Parents may review the Club surveys, but they will not be able to see answers from youth.
    • Make sure a Club leader, or even an older Club member, is available to talk to parents about the surveys and, if they wish, to walk them through the Tool Kit Web site.


    The Administering Surveyssection of this site has more information on obtaining permission from parents or guardians, as well as sample letters that you can download and customize for your Club.
Helpful Hint


If your current Club membership packet does not contain a parent permission form for youth surveys or other information collection, consider including a letter and consent form asking parents to agree to let you administer surveys to their children.

  • Directing survey administration
    • Identify a lead administrative staff person to coordinate the survey administration process across Clubs in your organization, as well as a lead staff person at each participating Club unit.
    • Teach Club staff and/or volunteers who will be helping with survey administration how to use the online surveys.
    • Walk Club staff and/or volunteers through every component of the Tool Kit Web site so they fully understand the survey process and can answer questions from youth and parents.
    • Alert Club staff to the timing and plans for survey administration, particularly the plans for selecting the youth who will be surveyed.
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