Creating Surveys to Better Serve Your Community Center Members
Several years ago, I was hired as a program director for a neighborhood community center. I was excited about the opportunity, and looked forward to bringing in great ideas for programs. After about a week or two, I was distraught. I had put in several programs that I thought would draw interest, and yet very few people were attending. I called my college professor to ask for advice, and his input was simple: find out what the community wants - make out a survey and bring it to them!
I followed my wise professor's advice and put together a survey for the neighborhood residents. I knocked on doors, met with them personally, I found out what they would like to participate in, but more importantly, by visiting with them, I built a relationship with them as well as trust that I was interested in giving them what they needed. Pretty soon, members started showing up to classes and activities, as well as events, and it wasn't long before I had to nearly beat them off with a stick! While the surveys were mainly geared toward adults and seniors, the youth and parents were also asked what they wanted, and had programs developed for them.
The key to having surveys is to make them comprehensive, so that you do not have to hand out another one to gather more information in a short period of time afterward. You need to make them complete enough to gather all of the information that you need to make good decisions, and yet short enough to hold their attention long enough to finish it.
When putting together a survey, there are two types of research you can conduct: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data is mainly statistical and objective. Qualitative information is more in-depth and can be based more on opinion.
Quantitative results can be taken from “closed-ended” questions, such as with multiple choice, or numbered ratings.
As an example, a “closed-ended question” might be:
What was your level of satisfaction with the program you just attended? Circle the corresponding number:
1 Extremely satisfied
2 Very satisfied
3 Moderately satisfied
4 Very unsatisfied
5 Extremely unsatisfied
Qualitative results can be taken from “open-ended” questions, which allow the person to elaborate more on their answers, and provide a deeper understanding on their thought-process and decision-making. A couple of “open-ended” survey questions might be:
1. What are your favorite programs that you would like to participate in and why?
2. What can we do to improve activities and make them more interesting and fun?
One important method of providing surveys that is often neglected is having "exit" surveys. After a program has taken place, it can be very helpful to survey the participants and ask about:
1. Did you like the program?
2. Would you attend it again?
3. What suggestions would you have to make it better?
4. What other programs would you like to attend that are similar?
Surveys have a magical way of making it easier to make quality changes that show you care, as well as make sure you sustain good results over time.