“Why should we do a survey at our school?”

There are many positive and negative factors that affect student wellness and academic performance.  Knowing how those factors specifically affect your students can help shape appropriate and cost-effective educational initiatives to improve wellness.

“What if the results of the survey are bad?”

In all likelihood, one should expect a mix of outcomes.  Some of the data may be troubling; some may be rather mixed; some may be very encouraging.  The point can be made, however, that those areas that are troubling are rarely unknown to the community.  Indeed, many communities find that what has been believed true--the extent of drug use, for example--often dramatically over-estimates the numbers involved.  In any event, if the survey identifies problem areas, then they can be addressed in an educational way; dealing with the real issues is the objective of the survey.

“Can I see the questions?”

Decision-makers will be given copies of the survey.  The ISHC is, however, the sole property of the ISHC consultants. It is copyrighted and cannot be duplicated, e-mailed or used without prior consent.

“What if parents do not want their children to take the survey?”

The ISHC should be administered according to the legal and ethical standards prescribed for surveys.  Parents should be notified of the survey and be asked to contact the survey administrator if they do not wish their child to participate; this format is called ‘passive consent‘.  Withholding permission to take the survey is a parental right that can not be questioned, challenged, or denied; a careful log of such parental requests should be kept.

 “What if students do not want to take the survey?”

A student’s rights are identical to the parent’s rights.  A student who does not wish to take the survey should notify the administrator.  The student’s decision may not be questioned, challenged, or denied.  Likewise, instructions on the survey itself advise students not to answer any questions they do not wish to answer.

 “Can any student be identified?”

For students and parents, anonymity is very important.  It will be impossible for anyone, including ISHC staff, to link a student with a survey response.

“Can’t we do our own survey?”

The ISHC draws on its creators’ experience in schools and actual experience with surveys.  Items have been vetted in student focus groups and field tested.  The ISHC also employs some very technical statistical processes to enable correlation of different items.  Standard correlations that come with each administration include:

• the extent to which the degree of parental oversight affects a student’s drinking or binge drinking

• the relationship between parental control and the likelihood of a student’s attending unchaperoned parties

• the relationship between unchaperoned parties and sexual activity

• the relationship between drinking and sexual activity

• the relationship between unchaperoned parties and sexual activity

• drinking and sexual activity by gender

• drinking, sexual activity, and drug use by grade

• relationship between students reflecting high anxiety levels and those reporting psychological problems, academic pressure, eating disorders

• the relationship between those who cheat and those who report high anxiety

• differences between those who report intrinsic motivation versus those who report extrinsic motivation