Turning the tables: making surveys relevant in the classroom

Researchers want to survey students. Instructors have little incentive to allow their class to be surveyed and students have little incentive to be surveyed. This paper suggests a solution to this problem for researchers, students and instructors of statistics classes. Research suggests that active survey announcement and the offering of extra credit increases survey response rates over passive survey announcement and no extra credit. Therefore, a course instructor can have an influential role in the response rate of electronic surveys administered over time. Instructors can offer extra credit in good conscience if the survey offers a class benefit that can be used for discussion and class activity. Students receive extra credit towards their grade as well as experience working with new data sets. Instructors receive an additional teaching opportunity, and researchers receive a high survey response rate. The process of engaging the researcher, the instructor and the students is detailed.