Survey Development and Administration
interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them." The writer reviewed data from previous years of parental involvement activities to see which events garnered the greatest attendance. These items were listed in the survey but with the inclusion of an additional category, entitled, Communication Skills. This final category was the writer's attempt to involve parents in academic areas not offered in previous years, to try establishing a correlation of what new activities might hold the interest of the parents.
Validity and Reliability:
It is doubtful to the writer, if the pilot test is particularly valid. The data would be more reliable if the writer had included parents of problematic students and parents of students in the lowest socioeconomic level. These parents do not have a computer at home for participating in an online survey. The comments from these two categories of parents would provide a more realistic picture of the intended outcome, which is to involve all parents in school events and activities. Study Design/Human Subject Review:
The study design used for the survey was generated from ideas at a site on the Internet. This site, http://www.innonet.org/, the writer found that requiring either a yes or no answer, would be easier to analyze because they are in response to closed ended questions. http://www.innonet.org/repair/surveyrepa... The writer chose to discuss the survey with two teachers at the school that had children enrolled at the Jane Long. These teachers offered input concerning wording and the activities offered on the survey. The writer reworded several of the questions to make them clearer. The activities were well received and the comments were favorable.
The post test survey required the inclusion of a few probes which resulted in open-ended questions. The probes were offered if the participant chose to explain why a question was unclear.
Pilot Test and Changes:
Changes resulted in the survey based on the comments on specificity of timelines. Issues Raised from Survey: Issues raised from the survey were concerns over specificity of dates for the events and how the Parental Involvement Committee would contact each parent with a child enrolled at the school. http://www.handinhand.org/parentsurvey.h...
Experience of Developing Survey:
The experience of developing a survey was more involved than the writer first thought. Reflectively, the survey would have gathered greater reliability had the participants represented the school populous better. A better representation would have provided input from the lowest socioeconomic families of students enrolled at the school. The parents of
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