A general guide to organizing and conducting reliable and useful community surveys is reported. Organization for the survey involves identifying and contacting relevant community groups, and meeting with organizational representatives. Constructing a questionnaire involves careful wording and ordering of questions, and determining if questions…

This report provides an introduction to the use of opinion surveys in gaining information about a school system in order to make decisions. The topics addressed are reasons for surveying, selecting the respondents, survey methods, selecting the survey sample, structuring the survey, writing the questions, training interviewers, pretesting the…

This booklet is intended to serve as a step-by-step layman's guide to conducting a community survey, tabulating the findings of the survey, and presenting a final report of the survey findings. It is written in simple nontechnical language and contains numerous examples of various survey forms and procedures. Among the major topics discussed are:…

This book presents hands-on information on how to plan, administer, and analyze opinion polls. Guidance is also offered on how to make this strategy accessible to public interest groups. Several examples, checklists, warnings of possible pitfalls, and lists of material and human resources occur throughout the chapters. Major sections address the…

Techniques for estimating the labor supply in any locality from a town and its surrounding rural area to a county or multi-county area are presented. The labor supply in a community can be estimated by many means, including registrations of the unemployed, newspaper advertisements, and a census-type sampling survey of the population.…

These tips on surveying public opinion are based on the contention that community surveys can be useful to educators who want to know what the community is thinking about education, are ready to respond, and have no qualms about making survey results public. The author first discusses the importance of determination of the community survey's…

Five data collection techniques and two sampling methods were examined in terms of costs, rates of return, quality of the data collected, and degree of representativeness in assessing needs and interests of public television viewers in rural areas. Data collection techniques were (1) mail only, (2) mail incentive, (3) telephone only, (4) mail and…

The Colorado Council for Library Development commissioned a state survey to facilitate long range library planning. A survey was designed by Colorado Market Research Services, Inc. and directed to adults throughout the state to ascertain the information needs of the sample population. Citizens were queried as to the frequency of their library use,…

Summarizes the methodology and findings of a telephone survey conducted by Central Florida Community College to identify the educational needs of its service district. Discusses the role of an advisory committee in planning the study, the pilot testing of the questionnaire, interviewer training, publicity, funding, and costs. (JP)

To help improve school public relations programs, this handbook tells how to use survey and feedback techniques and how to interpret survey results. The first chapter gives a brief overview of the usefulness of surveys for getting community feedback. Chapter 2 recommends beginning by deciding what one wants to know from a survey, what human and…

In early 1982, a survey of the educational needs of adult residents of Watauga County was conducted by Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (CCC&TI). The study sought to assess respondents' needs for additional curriculum programs, non-credit programs, educational services, general interest courses, and home courses by cablevision.…

To continue to be an effective local educational leader in curricular change, fiscal policy making, and, above all, in planning for education, the school administrator must have a continuous flow of usable information on public opinion. The purpose of this book is to provide the administrator with practical methods for systematically monitoring…

The Arlington, Washington, School District--a mostly rural district with enrollment of 2,790--conducted a survey of its public using both blanket mailing and random sampling procedures in order to compare the views of the total population with the views of the typically small percentage who mail back a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 29…

This monograph describes a practical, low cost needs assessment process used by Broward Community College (Florida) in cooperation with the public school system. The assessment was initiated by college administrators who needed information to plan appropriate programs and services for the residents living in a newly created service area. The…