The survey is a tool to gather the various perspectives and experiences of the person/s receiving the service of the students.
A survey tool can also be used to gather information from the students and their aptitudes before and after the experience.
It provides a measure of the impact that service-learning has on the community and the students.
It provides a measure of the quality of service-learning courses.
It allows Faculty to assess the influence that service-learning has on the community involvement, teaching and scholarship.
In preparing the survey tool, one has to determine what will be measured. This can be in the form of a pre-post test where the perceptions before and after the course are gathered or a tool that captures general attitudes at the end of the course.
The best time to do the survey depends on its purpose. Typically post tests are completed in the last week of the service-learning period.
The surveys need to have ethical clearance by the appropriate board. Consent needs to be established before the survey is shared with the users. Anonymity should be guaranteed to ensure respondents’ comfort in answering all questions. This removes bias from the results.
Data analysis is then conducted using appropriate software tools. This allows for analysis that can be compared across sites and student groups.
