Educators at the state and local levels are increasingly using data to inform policy decisions. While student achievement data is often used to inform instructional or programmatic decisions, educators may also need additional sources of data, some of which may not be housed in their existing data systems. Creating and administering surveys is one way to collect such data. However, documentation available to educators about administering surveys may provide insufficient guidance about the survey development process. Furthermore, some educators may not have training or experience in survey methods. In response to this need, REL Northeast & Islands created a series of three complementary guides that provide an overview of the survey research process designed for educators.
Part one of this series, "Collaborative Survey Development," outlines the following steps: