Plan and run a survey

Surveys are a powerful way to understand how an issue affects people in your area. Surveys can also tell you gather opinions to help identify future opportunities.

Here are a few tips to help you design your questionnaire - the questions you plan to ask.

Identify exactly what information you are looking for, then develop a set of questions that will allow you to collect it easily.

• Ask their gender and age-group
• Ensure their answers stay private
• Make each question specific and clear
• Use closed questions - for example, ones that lead to a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer
• But include a few open questions as well - for example, ones with an open space for people to write about their feelings
• Remember that you can use face-to- face, phone, mail or e-mail to deliver your interview
• Think about your safety. Ask a parents or teachers about safety if you are asking the questions in person
• Always be polite and thank people for their time

When you have received a good amount of responses to your survey:

• Write a report to summarise all the answers you've gathered. Be sure to highlight significant results and draw any conclusions you can. It is also a good idea to include an explanation of how the survey was conducted - for example, where and how you collected the information, who the respondents were (you don't have to give names but you can say that they were from from a particular community, town, school, etc.), and how many people responded.

It is always a good idea to attach a copy of the questionnaire in your report, so that anyone who is interested can see the exact questions that lie behind the statistics.