Introduction to Surveys
As described in my introduction, I distributed a survey to my students three times this year, in December, February and April. The purpose of this survey was two fold.
The December Survey was distributed after the students wrote their initial thesis papers but before our unit on argumentative writing. The February Survey was distributed after the unit on argumentative writing but before the unit on close reading, and the April Survey was distributed after they completed the final thesis paper.
The surveys were identical and consisted of 51 multiple choice questions and 9 short answer questions. The survey was divided into seven sections:
While the survey was distributed in class, not all of the students completed it and, as such, of the 24 students in the class, there are 17 respondents for December, 18 for February, and 17 for the April.
*This should have read "Quotation"
- I wanted a tool with which to track my students’ own assessment of their skills as we progressed through different units.
- I wanted to be able to use my students’ self-diagnosis to help channel any later interventions and to shape my classroom to their needs – both those that I perceived and those that they did.
The December Survey was distributed after the students wrote their initial thesis papers but before our unit on argumentative writing. The February Survey was distributed after the unit on argumentative writing but before the unit on close reading, and the April Survey was distributed after they completed the final thesis paper.
The surveys were identical and consisted of 51 multiple choice questions and 9 short answer questions. The survey was divided into seven sections:
- General Feelings About Writing
- Outlining
- Argumentative Writing
- Quote Analysis*
- Editing
- Peer Editing
- Teacher Support
While the survey was distributed in class, not all of the students completed it and, as such, of the 24 students in the class, there are 17 respondents for December, 18 for February, and 17 for the April.
*This should have read "Quotation"