Using Surveys as a Tool for Change

In this activity, you will:

• read about a historical example of how teens used student surveys to change their schools in 1968
• brainstorm and reflect on issues in your school or community that are important to you
• develop survey skills
• identify who you should survey to learn more about the issue, and create a survey to gather information
• analyze the responses you collected
• organize and present your findings and propose action

• Multipart Activity

• Survey Design Organizer (Google Slides). Print, download, or type directly into the chart by making a copy.

How can surveys help communities create change? And how can young people use research to advocate for improvements in their schools and communities?

In this activity, you will explore a historical example in which teenagers used student surveys to organize for change in their schools. You will identify an issue that you care about, and use surveys to collect information about that issue. You’ll then use the data you collect to propose action that might improve your community or school.

Read About a Historical Example of Student Surveys as a Tool for Change

Student surveys were a key organizing tool in the East Los Angeles Walkouts. Before the walkouts began, student activists used surveys to gather information directly from Mexican American students about conditions in their schools. The surveys were an example of how students themselves were leading the movement, instead of depending on outsiders to speak for them. Through these surveys, Mexican American youth documented their own experiences and used the data collected to justify direct action. This helped transform frustration into an organized civil rights movement focused on educational justice.

These surveys helped reveal widespread problems such as:

• overcrowded classrooms
• outdated textbooks and facilities
• discrimination from teachers and administrators
• punishment for speaking Spanish
• high dropout rates
• lack of college-prep courses and counselors
• lack of culturally-relevant curriculum

The survey results gave students concrete evidence that the school system was failing Mexican American students. Organizers used this information to create specific demands for reform rather than making general complaints that would be harder to measure in tangible results. They also used the survey findings to persuade more students to participate, to unify and build solidarity amongst students across different schools, and to build support from their community.

Questions

Discuss or write your responses to the following questions.

• How did surveys have an impact on the East LA Walkouts?
• Why would surveys matter in a movement for change?
• What kinds of evidence convinces leaders to listen? Why would decision-makers care about survey data?
• What are the strengths and limitations of surveys?

Investigate Your Own Community Through Student Surveys

Although the East LA Walkouts took place in 1968, the organizing tools used by students, including surveys—are still powerful and meaningful tools, even today. In this activity, you will explore an issue in your own community by using surveys to collect data.

Step 1: Choose an Issue That You’d Like to Investigate

Start by thinking about an issue that you care about in your school or community, perhaps one that you would like to learn more about. Perhaps it’s a topic that you think students understand better than adults. You can use one of the following ideas, or come up with your own:

• cafeteria food
• unfair treatment of students
• unjust access to resources, like laptops, books or school facilities
• mental health support
• campus safety
• access to activities (sports, music, arts, etc.)
• representation of different cultures and communities in the curriculum
• community resources (access to parks and rec centers, or safety and sanitation)

After you’ve brainstormed options, select one issue to focus on for your project.

Reflect

Before moving on to the next step, discuss or write your responses to the following questions.

• Why did you choose this issue? Why does it matter to you?
• Who else is this issue important to?
• What are you hoping to change?

Step 2: Identify Your Audience

In order to research the issue that you selected, identify who might be affected by the issue or have opinions about it. Consider the following types of decision makers and impacted community members. Not all of them are connected to every issue—consider who is affected by or has an interest in the specific issue you selected.

• students
• teachers
• community members
• school administrators (principal, school board, etc.)
• parents

Who else might be missing?

Decide who and how many people you would like to survey in order to get a good picture of the issue. Then, make notes about how you will distribute the survey to them.

Step 3: Design and Distribute Your Survey

Building a good survey takes care and a few drafts to get right. Use the Survey Design Guide to walk through the process of identifying the right questions, testing them, and distributing your survey. Then come back here when you’re ready to analyze your results

Step 4: Organize and Analyze Your Data

Once you’ve collected enough data to represent a variety of points of view, it’s time to gather and organize your data. Start by compiling the data question by question.

• For quantitative data—for example, a yes/no or multiple choice question like “Do you think the cafeteria offers sufficient food choices?”—you can express the data in percentages. For example, you could say, “65% of respondents answered “yes,” 32% answered “no,” and 3% didn’t answer.
• For qualitative data—for example, an open-ended question where you ask someone’s opinion about something like “What do you like about the school cafeteria?” or “What do you wish was different?”—you can compile a list of the different responses you received.

After you have organized your data, look at it overall and draw some conclusions. Write 3–4 statements that summarize some of the most important things you learned. Make sure that your statements are grounded in what the survey data told you. They shouldn’t be based on your own opinions.

Step 5: Analyze the Causes and Consequences of Your Results

After coming up with some analytical statements about your survey data, examine how and why the problem exists. This step is important before coming up with ideas for solutions, and ensures you actually understand the problem before you try to solve it!

For example, if you conducted a survey about your school cafeteria, and found that a majority of students agree that the school cafeteria serves low-quality, highly processed meals, and the lunch period is too short for students to finish eating, the following activity can help uncover the consequences and the root causes in order to propose a persuasive solution.

The Consequence Chain (The “So What?” Exercise)

Ask the question, “So What?” at least four times to dig into the consequences of the issue.

For example: Central Problem—low-quality, processed food and a rushed lunch window

• So What?—Students throw away unappealing food, while others cannot finish their meals before the bell rings, leaving them hungry for the rest of the day.
• So What?—Hungry students have a harder time focusing on learning, which can impact their grades.
• So What?—Teachers spend class time managing unfocused students instead of teaching, which affects the quality of classroom instruction.
• So What?—In schools where many students rely on low quality school cafeteria food, the students are more likely to receive lower grades and test scores because it’s harder for students to focus on learning and for teachers to deliver quality classroom instruction.

The Root Cause Chain (The “Why” Exercise)

Ask the question, “Why?” at least four times to dig into the root causes of the issue. Make sure your explanations are rooted in facts, not just your opinions. You may need to do outside research to gather the facts about the issue in this step, depending on what you investigated.

For example: Central Problem—low-quality, processed food and a rushed lunch window

• Why?—The school administration shrinks lunch down to 30 minutes to maximize instructional time and uses cheap food vendors to stay under budget.
• Why?—The school is under pressure to raise state standardized test scores to keep its funding, and the overall operating budget is too small to afford an on-site kitchen staff or fresh ingredients.
• Why?—The state funding model relies heavily on local property taxes. Schools in working-class neighborhoods receive significantly less revenue than schools in wealthy suburbs, forcing them to treat student nutrition as a financial burden rather than a health requirement.
• Why?—Educational policy often prioritizes saving money and raising test scores, which can cause them to overlook everyday student needs, like having healthy food and a relaxing lunch break.
• Why?—Public schools have seen their funding cut as everything has gotten more expensive. As a result, already underfunded schools have to make tough financial cuts, which often hurts their cafeteria food and campus spaces.

Step 6: Present Your Findings and Propose an Action

Bring everything together. Make a presentation that provides information about the following prompts. It could be a poster, a written statement, a slide presentation, a podcast, or a short video. Consider who you will present this to: your class, impacted community members, or someone else?

• What did you learn from your survey?
• Summarize the causes and consequences of the issue.
• Now what? Based on what you learned about the issue, its causes, and consequences, what are 1–2 actions you would recommend that could help to address the issue?

A person who takes action to improve communities and society or to challenge injustice and inequality through activities such as organizing, protesting, educating others, or advocating for change.

A network or group of people, sometimes living in a particular place, who share interests, values, characteristics, responsibilities, or physical spaces.

Actions stemming from conscious or unconscious prejudice, which favor and empower one group over others based on differences of race, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion, language, age, national identity, and other categories.

In different contexts, “justice” refers to both moral correctness and fairness, and also the rule of law. By contrast, “injustice” usually describes unfairness.

Descriptive information that tells you what something is like. (Eg. “The cafeteria seating is uncomfortable because there isn’t enough space at the tables to put down my tray.”)

Numerical information that can be counted or measured. (Eg. 25% of students think the cafeteria seating is uncomfortable.)

Unity, mutual support, and shared responsibility among individuals or groups around a common cause.