Chapter 6: Opinion Assessment

Principals can use a variety of information-gathering techniques including formal telephone or mailed questionnaire surveys, general advisory committees, single issue (ad hoc) committees, focus groups, and forums and conferences. These formal techniques are in addition to the many informal communications that characterize the daily routine of school leadership. The information-gathering techniques discussed in this chapter are not all used equally by principals. While some will be used only occasionally, they are provided here as useful tools if and when they are needed.

Formal surveys (also known as opinion polls) are usually conducted by either personally surveying citizens by phone or face-to-face or by mailing them a printed questionnaire. Two key determinants of the success of a formal survey are that questions are worded carefully to obtain true opinion and the people invited to be respondents are mirror reflections of the larger communities they represent.