Pilot Survey

Under the engulfing darkness of the abandoned school, we make the exchange. Taking the pilot survey, I surrender the large café mocha I promised her. This feels a little sketchy, but researchers bribe their participants all the time, right? So, I quickly shake off the guilt and ask my fellow first grade teacher how the survey went. Thinking that since she had experienced the March is Reading Month Challenge with her first grade class as well, she’d be the perfect person to pilot my survey. Enticed by the idea of a parent survey next year and of course by the café mocha, Jenn graciously agreed to complete my pilot survey regarding parent/child participation in and attitudes toward the March is Reading Month Challenge.


“So how’d it go?” I asked, a little too loudly as my question snapped back at me after bouncing around the vacant hallway.


“Oh, fine,” she answered in a somewhat softer tone, her words reverberated and gracefully faded. “I think I answered more like a teacher, but I really tried to answer like a parent. I gave answers that I thought I would like to know as a teacher. You know…to make the challenge better or see if it even makes a difference.”


Bingo! I thought. If she’s getting excited and is realizing the benefit of the survey, maybe, just maybe, we might be able to pique the interest of the other first grade teachers.


Suppressing the satisfaction threatening to make its presence known, I calmly state, “Well, that was the idea, really. Thank you so much for doing this.” Curiously I ask, “How can I improve the survey do you think? Is there any other information you’d look for in a parent survey?”


“Well, I actually think it’s really good as it is,” Jenn replied. Then, after taking another long sip added, “If I had to pick something to change, I’d also like to know how much reading the parents did with their child and how much of the reading was independent. I guess I’d also like to know if the amount of time spent reading was sustained after the challenge.”


Agreeing to come up with a survey we’d like to pilot with the rest of our team, Jenn strolled off to enjoy her mocha and I found my way into my classroom to ponder her responses to the survey. Looking over the first three questions, I realized the quantitative data didn’t hold much meaning without other surveys to calculate trends. Jenn’s answer to the fourth question, “How has participation in the reading challenge changed your child’s reading habits and attitude toward reading?” didn’t offer any interesting or particularly useful information either. In fact, I realized that it seemed very similar to the previous question, “How would you best describe your child’s attitude toward reading during the reading challenge?” which required the selection of five choices. I thought, then, that I might just take out the fourth question and replace it with a question Jenn suggested regarding the nature of the reading activities taking place during the reading challenge i.e. reading with a parent, sibling, another adult or independently for the next pilot. The question that I received the most information from involved describing the strengths and weaknesses of the challenge. Jenn suggested, in her answer, that “her child” focused more on getting the stories read rather than understanding or enjoying the story. This information can really help us to look at the challenge and try different ways to address this flaw. I enjoyed the experience of creating and piloting a survey, especially when I believe it may have some real use in the future. The idea that I may engage in research with my fellow colleagues to inform the practices we engage in as a grade level team is exhilarating. Flipping through next year’s school calendar, I sat sipping my large coffee, two creams one sugar, relishing the thought.