Survey Questions

1) What is a Survey?
“A Survey is a system for collecting information from or about other people to describe, compare, or explain their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior” (Fink, 2003).

2) What is a Survey’s objective?
A Survey’s objective is to answer essential questions by asking for the opinion of a group of students or a group of audience members.

3) What is a good Survey question?
A good Survey question uses specific questions framed as complete sentences that are logically connected to the Survey’s objectives.

4) What is a good Survey design?
One-time administration of Surveys are giving way to multiple- administration Surveys. A good Survey design employs a pre- and post- administration format to better measure the change of opinion over time. A good design keeps the Survey short, asks the most important questions first, has a section for the Survey respondent’s background, and asks important questions.

5) What’s a sampling frame?
A sample is a subset of the population. For example, in order to understand the opinion of thousands of audience members, a sampling frame might be just 100 respondents, spread out over the run of the play.

6) What are the four types of Survey instruments?
Self-administered questionnaires, interviews, structured record reviews, and structured observations.

7) What is valid and reliable?
Validity is established when the assessment instrument measures what it is supposed to measure, e.g., content, skills, knowledge. Reliability is when the assessment instrument measures accurately across boundaries, e.g., time, forms, people, classes, etc.

8) What type of results do you get with Surveys?
“76% of audience members think that the ending for King Lear needs to be changed...40% of students reported on an exit survey, an increase in theatre skills. However, a survey of these skills documented in portfolios showed that 67% of students met or exceeded the theatre standard for skill acquisition. Our conclusion is to help make students more aware of the skills they are attaining through our training.”

9) What is a good report?
A short, concise document that both reveals and shows the most important results. For example, “our pre- and post- Survey of student opinion of theatre’s effect on audience showed that talking less about why Shakespeare was important and showing the fun and importance of Shakespearean plot and twists was more effective over time.“ (Adapted from Fink, 2003).

Generic Teacher Survey Form: Formative or Summative Template (MS Word)

Generic Student Interview or Survey Form: Formative or Summative Template (MS Word)

Generic Programmatic Survey Form: Teacher Template (MS Word)

Generic Programmatic Interview/Survey Form Teacher Template (MS Word)

Student Pre-Assessment Survey Form Template (MS Word)

Student Post-Assessment Survey Form Template (MS Word)

Survey examples were collected from the theatres below over the course of two years (2006-2007), and helped influence the creation of the models above. The actual models were created by the TEAM Working Group.
Accessible Arts, Inc., Alliance Theatre, Asolo Theatre, Blue Apple Players, Center Theatre Group, The Coterie Theatre, Dallas Children’s Theater, Denver Center Theatre, Detroit Repertory Theatre, El Arte Alliance, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Theatre, Kansas City Young Audiences, Kentucky Opera, Lincoln Center Theater, Looking At Student Work, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Philharmonic, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, TADA!, Theatre For A New Audience, Together In Dance, Walden Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre