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Ordering Information

Step 1: Planning Your Survey Project  

Step 2: Placing Your Order with RMBSI, Inc.

Step 3: Receiving Your Surveys

Step 4: Parental Notification and Consent Procedures  

Step 5: Administering the Survey

Step 6: Returning the Surveys to RMBSI, Inc.

Step 7: Reviewing and Using Your Survey Result

Step 8: Repeating the Survey Periodically

 

Step One: Planning Your Survey Project

 

A.  Begin with the End in Mind  -- Uses for the Survey Data

The most useful project is undertaken with a particular purpose in mind.  What information do you need to support your local prevention efforts?  How will having more information help you?  There are many ways in which prevention professionals use the results of the ADAS, PPS, ATS and the ADAS Core Measures Survey (ADAS-CM).  The following are the most common uses:

 1. Working Face-to-Face with Young People

Professionals who are coordinating or implementing prevention programs use the information on a daily basis when working directly with youth.  It is much easier to talk effectively with students about drugs when you have reliable information at hand.

 2. Conducting Needs-Assessments

 Survey results are used to complete formal needs-assessments.  In some cases, the survey results, combined with your working knowledge of the population and the resources available, may provide enough data for this process.  In other cases, the survey will be one of a number of data-collection projects that contribute to the needs-assessment.  Surveying is a very efficient method of collecting reliable information about your youth population’s prevention needs.

3. Evaluating Prevention Programs

The ADAS, ADAS-CM, and ATS have been used for years to evaluate prevention efforts.  They provide “outcome-based measures.”  In other words, if your goal is to reduce drug and tobacco use by high-school students, you will measure use-rates, do your prevention activities, and then measure again to see if there is any effect.   These surveys also provide data about attitudes, so that you can measure whether prevention efforts are changing young peoples’ perceptions about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.  The PPS allows you to measure changes in the presence/absence of risk and protective factors in students’ lives.  It also quantifies students’ experiences with violence.  These surveys can be used for “pre-post” testing or as a method to track trends over time.  You should first decide what your own questions are (for example “Does this prevention effort affect Behavior A or Attitude X?”) and then make sure that our surveys include specific items that will reveal the answers to your questions.  Because our surveys are based on scientific research in the prevention field, most evaluators’ questions are addressed by the item we have included.   If not, however, please inquire about the option of customizing our surveys for your specific project.

4. Educating Your Public

Most of RMBSI’s reports include materials to help you communicate with your community.  These materials include an outline for giving public presentations, and overhead transparencies or PowerPoint Presentations that go with the scripts.  These materials have been used for presentations to students, parents, school staff, administrators, and communities-at-large.  We also provide press releases, which you can distribute if you want media-coverage of your results.  You can also order an additional version of your report results in a PDF file format to add to your website.

5. Writing Grant Proposals

Survey results provide a large part of the necessary fact-base for preparing grant proposals.  You do not have to be a statistician to provide accurate statistics in your appeals for program funding if you use the ADAS, PPS, ATS and/or ADAS Core Measures Short Form.

B.  Decide Which of RMBSI’s Surveys to Use

To request an informational packet with sample surveys, send an e-mail message (including your name, title, organization, complete street address, city, state and zip code) to info@rmbsi.com.     

 You also can view the sample surveys on this site – return to the home page and click on the survey names, then select the pdf files.

 Carefully read the sample surveys, and decide which of them will best inform your prevention efforts.  Also, consider the following guidelines:

If you are looking for data on alcohol and other drugs, you will want to use either the Adolescent or Children’s version of the ADAS – or perhaps the ADAS Core Measures Short Form.  The Adolescent ADAS should be given to students in the 7th through 12th grade, and the Children’s ADAS should be given to 4th and 5th graders.  We strongly recommend that you do not cross these boundaries, as both the surveys and the data analysis have been developed based on developmental norms that apply to either elementary or secondary students.  We find that 6th graders are sometimes located in grade schools and sometimes in middle schools, and their behavior may resemble either 5th or 7th graders more closely.  If you are surveying 6th graders, therefore, you may select either the Adolescent or Children’s ADAS, whichever you feel will be more appropriate for your needs. 

 The ADAS Core Measures Short Form has the advantage of brevity.  If gaining classroom time for surveying is a problem, the Core Measures Short Form may be your choice.  It requires only 5 to 10 minutes for completion because it includes only 14 questions.  These questions were selected from the ADAS and PPS to correspond with the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s recommendations on “core measures”.  They include use in the past 30 days, age of first use, perceived harm, and perceived disapproval of ATOD use.  (Note that all these items are also included in the Adolescent ADAS).  The ADAS Core Measures Short Form may be given to students in 6th grade through 12th grade.    

If you are interested in focusing your substance abuse prevention efforts, and/or you need data about violence and victimization, use The Prevention Planning Survey.  It is always paired with the Adolescent ADAS and is not available as a “stand-alone” survey.  In fact, it is only printed in booklets that combine both surveys.  The Prevention Planning Survey is most appropriate for use with students in 8th grade and up.  It may also be used with 6th and 7th graders who are taking the Adolescent ADAS.  However, it may be difficult for young students and/or students with below-average reading speed to finish the full eight pages in a standard class period.  Unless you can schedule a longer block of time for the survey, you should use the ADAS/PPS only with groups of students who are likely to complete the pair of surveys in a 45-to-55 minute period. 

The American Tobacco Survey may be given to students in 4th grade up to 12th grade.  It is available either as a “stand alone” survey or paired with the Adolescent ADAS.  If you wish to give the Adolescent ADAS and the PPS on one day, you can schedule the ATS on a separate day by itself.  Other schools may wish to use the ADAS and ATS at the same time.  Most students can complete the ADAS/ATS in about 35- 45 minutes.  If you want to give the ATS to elementary school students you can schedule it separately from the Children’s ADAS.  The “stand-alone’ ATS requires 10-15 minutes for most students to complete.

 C.  Decide Who to Survey

1.  Decide Which Grades to Survey

 RMBSI offers surveys that are available for 4th to 12th graders.  Which of these grades you survey is your choice.  The most important suggestion we can make is that you collect data that will serve your purpose (or several purposes).  Choose the grades you will survey because data on these grades will help you to plan or to improve your prevention efforts and to measure your outcomes! 

Consider which students your prevention efforts are currently serving or are going to be serving in the next year or two.  If you are working in a single building site, you may want to survey the youngest eligible grade as well as the oldest of the grades at that site. If you are coordinating prevention and intervention services for an entire K-12 school district, it’s probably desirable to survey at least one grade in the upper elementary level, some middle school/junior high grade(s) and some high school grade(s).  This will help you answer questions like:

“At what age and grade-level do our kids first begin to show an increase in drug use?”

“At what grade-levels are there changes in our kids’ pattern of use?”

“At what grade level do we see the highest level of drug involvement?”

If you want to be able to compare local results with national survey results, you should include 8th, 10th and/or 12th graders in your survey, because these are the grades for which reliable national data is available from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study (for more information about this study, go to www.monitoringthefuture.org ).  We include their national data in every report we prepare on the Adolescent ADAS.

2.       Surveying the Whole Grade vs. Sampling Procedures

Whenever possible, we strongly recommend that you survey all of the students in the selected grades who are present on the day of the survey.  The goal of surveying is to find out about certain behaviors and attitudes within the community’s population of young people.  To do this it is very important to survey a group that accurately represents the whole youth population.  The best, most effective way to do this is also the simplest way, and that is to survey all students in the selected grades.

The other approach would be to select a “sample” – a portion of the students who will represent the total student population at that grade level.  Sampling may help you in keeping efforts and costs down because you survey fewer students.  However, good sampling procedures are rather complex, and if sampling is done improperly, it leads to results that do not accurately describe the population. In the long run, the cost savings will not be beneficial if the survey results do not reflect the behavior and attitudes of the whole student group. 

If you choose to sample your students, it is very important that the person or team who selects the sample is experienced and knowledgeable about local demographics, sampling procedures, and statistics in general.  RMBSI’s staff can provide some general guidance, but a local professional who handles evaluations and research for the school district, or a faculty member in social sciences at a near-by university will know the local population better.  However, we remind you again that the best, most effective, and easiest method of getting accurate survey results is to survey all students in the selected grade level who are present on the day of the survey.

3.  Decide Whether to Survey Special Needs Students

The surveys offered by RMBSI should be given under conditions that protect student anonymity.   This means that no one should know or see how any student answers the questions.  Some special education students may be able to read, comprehend, and fill in the answer “bubbles” on the survey independently, while others cannot.  Only those students who can complete the survey by themselves, under anonymous conditions, should be asked to take the survey. 

D.    Additional Decisions in Planning Your Order

You will need to order your survey forms and your reports at the same time.

1.      How Many Surveys Should You Order?

You should order enough forms to survey all your enrolled students at the grade level(s) you want to survey, unless you have decided to survey only a sampling of students, or if you are using active consent.  If using active consent, you may wish to wait until you have initial responses from parents back and then order a slightly larger quantity than the number of affirmative responses you’ve obtained – remember that you may still get responses back up until the day of the survey. 

 After you administer the survey, return all forms, both completed and blank ones, to RMBSI.  Part of your billing will be based on the number of completed forms.

If you survey your older students with the Adolescent ADAS and your younger grades with the Children’s ADAS, be aware this necessitates separate Adolescent and Children’s ADAS Reports. 

2.  How Many Reports (and Which Reports) Should You Order?

Children’s ADAS Reports are prepared from Children’s ADAS forms.  Adolescent ADAS Reports are prepared from Adolescent ADAS forms.  Results from Children’s and Adolescent forms are derived through separate analysis procedures and cannot be mixed together.

 Similarly, the ADAS Core Measures Short Form results must be processed as a separate data analysis procedure. 

Many community coalitions have Drug-Free Communities grants, which require the grantees to collect certain data in a very specific format. We can provide a DFC Grantee report if you have used the Adolescent ADAS or the ADAS Core Measures Short Form.  The DFC Grantee Report can be ordered in addition to other reports from that survey type, or as your only report.  The DFC Grantee Report can present data from 7 or fewer grade levels.

If you are surveying at only one school building, you probably need to order just one report for each type of survey you use (i.e., Adolescent ADAS, and PPS).  However, if you are surveying at several school sites, you may want to order separate reports for each site, and/or composite report(s) combining the data from multiple sites.  You should consider whether you want data by site, as a composite, or both.  Many districts have found that individual school reports work best in increasing awareness and motivation to develop prevention programs.

In each report, students’ responses will be presented in tables.  The tables in Adolescent ADAS Reports, ADAS Core Measures Reports, Tobacco Reports and Prevention Planning Reports can have up to four columns.  Children’s ADAS Reports can have up to three columns.  We cannot exceed these column limitations.

 Ordinarily, each column presents the responses of students in a single grade, as in the example below where column 1 = 9th grade, column 2 = 10th grade, etc. 

 

Ever Tried Alcohol


9th
Graders


10th
Graders


11th
Graders


12th
Graders

67%

75%

79%

84%

 However, in the following circumstances we may need to modify the typical column layout:

* If you have fewer than 50 students in each grade, we recommend showing the responses of students from two or more grades in a single column, as in the example below: 

 

Ever Tried Alcohol


9-12th
Graders

77%

 For a variety of reasons, we find it’s advisable to have at least 50 students reported in each column used.  If you have a very small student population, please also ask about the option of ordering only an Executive Summary Report without a Detailed Report.

* If you have more than 50 students in each grade, and you are surveying more than four grades with the Adolescent Form, we recommend ordering at least two reports (even if all the students are at one school site).  This way you will have the responses of each grade level presented separately.  Or you may opt to condense the grades into the four column format in a single report (i.e., column 1 = 6th & 7th grades combined, column 2 = 8th & 9th grades combined, etc.).  This however, will obscure information regarding the differences in drug usage from one grade to the next.

3.  Should You Order Multi-year Comparison Reports?

If you have used the ADAS in the last five years, we have your previous years’ data stored in our computer files.  If your procedures meet certain criteria, you may choose to order a Multi-year Comparison Report in addition to your current year’s Detailed ADAS Report.

A Multi-year Comparison Report pulls the data from the Executive Summary portion of your report, and compares the students surveyed in each grade level to students who were surveyed in that grade previously.

A Multi-year Comparison Report has a standard format, and can be created for a standard fee if you are consistent in your surveying procedures.  Consistency means that you survey the same grades in the same schools each year that you survey, and your reports for each of those years are ordered with the same column layouts.  Also the same school site or sites must be included in the reporting that is compared across time.  It is not necessary to survey in consecutive years – multi-year comparisons can be created, for example, using data from the four school-years 2000-2001, 2003-2004, 2006-2007 and 2009-2010.  However it is necessary to survey at least once every five years, or your older data may be purged from our database.

If you do not survey the same grades or the same school sites, or you do not order reports with the same column formatting each year, the processing of a Multi-year Comparison report will require special handling by our staff.  In such cases, there will be some additional hourly charges for the extra time, in addition to the standard charge.

It should be noted that a Multi-year Comparison does not reproduce the entire Detailed Report format, but rather offers a summary of tables showing the changing patterns of drug use.  If you need to see particular details analyzed in a format that compares two or more years, and the information you want to see isn’t part of our standard Multi-year Comparison Report, we probably can run a special analysis for you.  Please call for an estimate.

4.  Do You Need Special Analyses?

If you want to receive any data analyses that are not described in these materials, please call us to discuss your requests.  We are often able to handle special orders.

E. Make Arrangements within the School System

1.      Obtain Necessary Board or Administration Approval

Before placing your survey order, you may need to get approval of the project from the administrators of the school system and/or the school building sites.  It may take some time to present the information, allow people to digest that information, and then to wait for the concerned parties to meet, discuss, and make decisions.  In many school districts this process takes between two and six months, so it is wise to plan ahead.  This step is especially important if you are part of a community organization that is outside of the school system.

2.  Schedule the Survey Date or Dates

You will need to discuss scheduling with the principal of each school building where the survey will be given.  There is no universally “best” month or time of day to give these surveys, but you will want to consider the following factors:

(a) Allow Enough Time for the Students to Answer All the Questions

Most students need the following amount of time to complete the surveys:

      o ADAS Core Measures Short Form                                                                  5–10 minutes

      o  Adolescent ADAS alone                                                                               20–30 minutes

      o  Children's ADAS alone                                                                                 20–30 minutes

      o  The American Tobacco Survey alone                                                            10-15 minutes

      o  Adolescent ADAS with The American Tobacco Survey                                30-45 minutes

      o  Adolescent ADAS with the Prevention Planning Survey                                 45–55 minutes

 

(b) Minimize Interference with Academic Schedules

Teachers who resent the interruption of their classroom time will not be good for the survey process.  Try to schedule the survey when it is more convenient for teachers.

(c) Try For High-Attendance Days

It is important to choose a day when high-to-average attendance is likely.  You should not  survey students who are absent on the survey-date later on, as we have found that this causes very serious problems.  Absentees should simply not participate in the survey.  It is, therefore, essential that you pick a date for each school building when as many students are present as possible.  Avoid dates when there are groups of students away for field trips, sports events, etc. If there is a flu epidemic or major storm that keeps 25% or more of your students home when you have planned to survey, it may be best to reschedule rather than to proceed.

(d) Consider the Time of Year

Recognize that the date when you give the survey will affect the results to some degree. We would advise you to view the survey results as a snapshot of the substance use rates at a given time, and interpret them in light of these general realities.  For example, generally speaking, the older the students are, the higher the population’s level of drug-use will be.  This means that, as a group, seventh graders surveyed in the spring will usually have tried more drugs than seventh graders surveyed in the fall, but will have slightly lower use rates than eighth graders.  Also, if you survey within 30 days after a major holiday or festival in your community, you may see a higher number of students reporting alcohol and other drug use in the last 30 days. Nevertheless, the results will be perfectly valid. They will be a correct representation of use among students at the time the survey is taken.  You can therefore survey at any time in the school year, but once you establish a time, you should try to survey at the same time of year in the future so that the results will be most truly comparable.  And, again, interpret your results taking into account the events that take place at that time of year, which may affect drinking and drug use.

(e) Choose A Time of Day or A Specific Course for Your Survey Time

Each student in the grade level(s) selected should be surveyed once and only once, so how classes are scheduled may determine what time of day the survey is given.  Ideally, it is best to survey every student in the building who is in the selected grade(s) at the very same time – that is, during the same class period.  In the real world this ideal is frequently not possible.  A very good next-best plan is to survey every eligible student in the building on the same day, but during different class periods.  The least desirable method would be to survey in a building on two or more separate days.  This is occasionally necessary, especially in schools with “block scheduling.”  It is preferable, if this must be done, to at least try to survey students who are likely to interact with one another all on one day.

Some schools select a course attended by every student in that grade, such as a health class or English class, as the place where the survey is administered.  Other schools simply select a given time, and every teacher oversees the survey in their room at that time.  The advantage of this is that all students are given the survey at once, and there is no opportunity for hallway discussions about the survey to affect the way students approach the survey later in the day.  The disadvantage is that it may interfere with more teachers’ teaching schedules, and the administration process may be more unevenly handled.  However, this is not necessarily a problem.  Meeting with the teachers in advance to explain the reasons for the survey and to go over the administration procedures can help to make this system work effectively.

(f)     Consider When Students Will Take the Survey Most Seriously 

If you know that students are more focused at certain times of year, days of the week, or times of day, and more rowdy at other times, take advantage of that knowledge.  Select an administration date and time when you think students are more likely to take the survey seriously and to answer the questions honestly.  The first day of school is generally not a good time, nor is the day after a major late-night high school event like Senior Prom or the Homecoming game.  All in all, however, this is a common-sense issue.  We can’t give you “expert” advice, because these factors vary from one group of students to another, and your professional knowledge of the kids involved will be most useful.

3.  Make Financial Arrangements 

(a)   Calculate the Cost of Your Proposed Survey Project

The cost of the survey project will be determined by the number and type of surveys you use, and by the number and type of reports you ask RMBSI to prepare. 

We do not charge for shipping unless you request a special “Rush” delivery, in which case we will charge you.  You are responsible for the shipping charges to return surveys to RMBSI. Under normal circumstances, we issue invoices upon completion of the entire project.  Invoices are due 30 days from date of issue. 

(b)   Obtain a Purchase Order

In most school districts, municipalities and universities, Purchase Orders are used to set aside the funds that will be needed for a project.  Sending a P.O. is not the same thing as sending a check – the P.O. simply guarantees that funds will be available to make payment when the time comes.  If possible we prefer to receive a Purchase Order before we ship your surveys to you, but payment is not expected until our work has been done.  In some school systems the business office will not issue a P.O. until the final invoice reaches them.   In this case, we will accept your order and ask that you sign a statement verifying that payment will be made according to our contract terms.  We will invoice you when we complete the reports on your survey results.

(c) Paying in Advance

In situations where grant funds are used to pay for the survey project, you may have a deadline requiring you to use your funding by a specific date.  If so, you may send pre-payments to RMBSI when you place your order, or during the course of the project.  We will provide you with an estimated amount to pre-pay, and when the project is finished and the final invoice is calculated, we will either refund any over-payment or bill you for the remaining balance due.

 

Step Two: Placing Your Order with RMBSI, Inc.

1.  Call RMBSI at 1-800-447-6354 to place your order by telephone. We will talk you through your order and decision-making process.  You will not need to fill out any order form if you order by phone.

2.      Print out this Order Form (Click here)

(a) Fax the Order Form  and your Purchase Order to (970)221-0595

(b) Mail the Order Form and your Purchase Order to:

RMBSI, Inc

305 West Magnolia Street, #291

Fort Collins, CO 80521

 

Step Three:  Receiving Your Surveys

A.      Shipment Methods and Time in Transit

When we receive your order, we usually can ship your surveys out the following day. Incomplete orders, orders with special shipping instructions, and orders involving more than 5000 surveys may require additional preparation time.  Shipment will be made via UPS Ground Service unless you specify that you need a rushed delivery. Transit times for ground service will vary depending on your location relative to Colorado.  UPS will deliver most “Ground” packages in the continental U.S. one to six working days after they pick up the package(s).

To check the exact transit time from our location to yours, you can click here to go to UPS’s website.

Warning, if you click this link, you will leave the RMBSI website.  You may wish to bookmark this page before you leave, to ensure that you will be able to return easily.  You should also be able to use the “back” button on your browser to return from another site.

B.     Check Your Materials

When you receive the shipment of surveys, you will need to open the boxes right away and check that you have received the correct surveys and a sufficient number of surveys.  You also will receive instruction sheets, checklists, and an Order Agreement. 

Please go through the Order Agreement carefully, fill in the requested information, and sign the last page.  It must be returned to RMBSI with the completed surveys.

There will be two pages of instructions for the coordinator(s) of the project, one page for the teachers who monitor the survey in the classroom, and one page that is to be read out loud to the students.  The coordinator will need to make photocopies of the Survey Administration Instructions and the Instructions to Students.  Each teacher who monitors the survey administration will need a copy of these two sheets. You also need to prepare checklists to track which classrooms have and haven’t returned the surveys after the students take the survey.  We provide these checklist forms for you to use.

C.     Distribute Surveys and Instructions to Staff Members

We recommend that you schedule a meeting in each school building to go over the survey project with the staff members involved.  At this meeting you can distribute the instruction sheets they will need.  You may also distribute the surveys at this meeting.  You also will need to give each classroom one or two large envelopes (approximately 10” x 12”).  The envelopes should be labeled with the grade level(s) surveyed, the school-building name, the school district name, and the name of the city/town and state.  Students will place their surveys in these envelopes when they are finished, and the envelopes should be sent back to us.  Labeled envelopes are very important in helping us to identify where each group of surveys came from.

           

Step Four:  Parental Notification and Consent

Prior to giving the survey, it is important to notify parents about the survey project.  A few parents may not want to have their children take the survey.  This is a right that needs to be respected.  Legally, parents also have the right to review the questions that will be asked before the survey is given to their children.  You should have a blank copy of each survey you will use available for parents to examine upon request.

There are two common methods for notifying parents about the survey and giving them the chance to keep their children from participating.  These are referred to as “active consent” and “implied consent” methods.  Active consent means that all parents must sign a form giving permission for their child to take the survey.  If a parent does not return a signed form to the school, then that parent’s child cannot take the survey.  By contrast, an implied consent procedure means that only parents who object to the survey sign the form and return it.  The form says “Please do not give the survey to my child(ren).”  Parents who allow their children to participate do not have to sign the form.  By not returning the “permission-denial” form, parents imply that they give their permission.

Depending on the funding being used, and the methods used in giving the survey, certain laws may require a particular procedure for getting parental consent.   For a comprehensive discussion  on “Parental Consent Procedures for Surveying in Schools” click here

We recommend using an “implied consent” procedure whenever possible, because it is easier, less expensive, and generally allows you to survey a more representative portion of your student population.  Unless someone calls to remind the parents a few times, usually a great number of parents will not get around to returning “active consent” permission forms.  However, recently we have been encouraged to see that a few of our clients have organized their active consent process so well that they have received responses from 95% to 97% of parents! 

Researchers have done follow-up studies and learned that for most parents, failure to return the consent forms is not due to parents’ objections to the survey, but just because their lives are busy.  On the other hand, parents who really do not want their children to participate usually feel strongly enough about it to take the time to return a form saying “No, don’t give the survey to my child.”  The clients who have successfully obtained responses from 95% to 97% of parents had between 0% and .3% of all parents saying no, which again confirms the idea that most parents who will respond at all will respond affirmatively.

RMBSI will provide support and guidance for either procedure you use in your community.  Sample letters for each procedure are available when you place your order. When you order, let us know what method you’ll be using so that we can send appropriate checklists and suggestions for a successful project.

 

Step Five: Administering the Surveys

Teachers who are administering the surveys should follow the instructions that are provided. The Instructions to Students should be read aloud in each classroom.  They should be read aloud exactly as written, to ensure that students in all classrooms are given the same information.

Teachers should allow plenty of time for students to complete the survey.  Cutting this process short will cause the worst of problems.  We recommend allowing a full class period, but teachers should have a quiet activity ready for students to work on at their desks if they finish before others. Most students need the following amount of time to complete the forms:

      o  ADAS Core Measures Short Form                                                                 5–10 minutes

      o  Adolescent ADAS alone                                                                               20–30 minutes

      o  Children's ADAS alone                                                                                 20–30 minutes

      o  The American Tobacco Survey alone                                                            10-15 minutes

      o  Adolescent ADAS with The American Tobacco Survey                                30-45 minutes

      o  Adolescent ADAS with the Prevention Planning Survey                                 45–55 minutes

 

Step Six: Returning the Surveys to RMBSI, Inc.

 After students fill out the surveys, they should place them in the 10”x 12” envelope with the other students' completed forms.  Immedi­ately after each class finishes, the envelopes with the surveys should be returned to the survey coordinator.  Please make sure that each envelope is labeled with the grade level surveyed, the name of the school building, school district, city, and state.  Unused surveys must be returned too. They may be included in the envelopes with the completed surveys, or kept separate. The coordinator will use checklists to make sure every classroom returns its surveys. 

No one should read the completed surveys.  Doing so would violate the anonymity that is promised to all students who participate.

The coordinator will simply place the labeled, sealed envelopes in a box (or boxes) to ship to RMBSI as soon as all surveys are collected.  No other handling of the surveys should occur. After the surveys leave the students’ hands, the next person to see the completed surveys should be a member of RMBSI’s staff.

The coordinator should be sure to include RMBSI’s Order Agreement in the box with the surveys.  Before sending it, make sure that you have filled in any missing information and signed it.  The information requested in the Order Agreement will allow us to begin processing the surveys.

 

Step Seven: Reviewing Your Survey Results

You can expect to receive your reports approximately 30 to 45 days after the date you ship the surveys to RMBSI.  This allows about one week for shipping in each direction, and about 30 days for RMBSI to process your surveys and prepare the reports.  Because of the nature of our work, we cannot guarantee precise turn-around times.  However, in recent school years, we have shipped 95% of the orders we processed in 30 days or less.

It’s important to familiarize yourself with the results thoroughly before you begin using them.  We recommend that you make a list of all the people who should also be given copies of the reports, and be sure to distribute copies to those people soon after you receive them.  RMBSI will treat your data confidentially.  We never release your data to any third party unless you ask us to in writing. Sharing the results of your survey will be up to you.

The reports are generally self-explanatory, but if you have any questions as you read, please feel free to call us or send us e-mail.  We will be happy to help you interpret anything that needs clarification.

As mentioned earlier, there are many valuable ways to use your survey results.  Return to the top of this page to review Uses for the Survey Data.

 

Step Eight: Repeating the Survey Periodically

Survey results will be most meaningful and useful when they are up-to-date.  We recommend surveying on a regular schedule.  Some schools survey every school year, but many others opt for every other year, or even every third year.  We advise that you collect “fresh” data at least every three years. 

Adding Multi-year Comparison Reports to your order after the second survey-year will allow you to track changes in key data items across time.  Up to five years of data collection can be displayed in a Multi-year Comparison.

Be advised that we may purge data files from our database if a customer is inactive (does not survey) for 5 years.  However, we retain paper copies of Executive Summaries and Multi-Year Comparison Reports for a longer time, and it may be possible to use these documents to create a new Multi-Year Comparison Report that includes data from older surveys.

 

 

 
 
 

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