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core leadership team—for us,
have used it for several surveys
the Editors-in-Chief, Managing
since then. Editors then began
Editors, and Chief Investigative
designing and testing questions
Reporter—collaborated on a
in the SurveyMonkey platform.
shared document to develop their
Once they built the survey, they
list of survey questions. This was
completed numerous tests and
a free-flowing and wide-ranging
figured out the expected survey
brainstorm at first, with some
duration: most students could
fantastic questions. The EICs began
complete the 39 questions in
sorting the questions into general
three to five minutes — a crucial
categories—demographics,
photo gallery of infographics on https://
academics, sports and activities,
and culture. They argued about friar.news/2tlRiil
the questions in comments and
feedback on that document,
and occasionally sought my
feedback. By early August, they
had the survey organized and
narrowed down to 39 questions.
They also discussed survey
platform. Google Forms seemed
like the easiest option, since
our students were familiar
with the Google platform and
felt comfortable designing
questions on the interface. Yet
they knew they wanted to keep
the survey anonymous, and senior
editors raised the concern that
even if they survey did not request
a login, some students might be
hesitant to share responses to
sensitive questions in a familiar
Google interface.
They tested out and eventually
decided on SurveyMonkey. We
invested in a paid account and
benchmark they determined
was necessary to get student
participation.
It was a challenge to test out
infographic creators before we
had data. Our Managing Editors
tried out a few options over the
summer and decided on Infogram,
although Piktochart and other
options also work well. When it
came to production time, they
ended up using a combination of
Infogram and Photoshop to get
the desired effects.
I helped the editors to reserve
a set of classroom laptops for
survey administration from our
technology staff, and to ensure
that tables would be ready at the
survey location. A smart Managing
Editor decided to create a print
version of the survey, just in case
the wireless was slow or out
at implementation. Although
the wireless worked fine on the
survey date, we were able to use
these print copies to share the
list of questions with curious
teachers and administrators
who visited our tables. With
all the pieces in place, the
last logistical plan involved
incentive: they decided to
order some rubber bracelets
printed with 'Class of 2019'
and our publication website,
and enough candy to feed the
freshman class.
With only a little coaching from
the adviser, a motivated team
prepared all of the logistics prior to
our August workshop so they were
able to focus on training.
TEAMBUILDING
The implementation and design
of the survey served as a jump-
start for the core leadership team
to dive into their new roles. The