Creating Surveys

Whether you are creating a survey for research, general-purpose information gathering from your students, or to supplement the SIRS with your own questions, you'll find that there are several survey tools to choose from. Below are a few that we have found to be particularly useful for surveying students in a course, with instructions on how to use them.

Sakai "Polls": Simple to use, but limited. You can only ask multiple-choice questions. Ideal if you are already using Sakai for your course web site. Read how to create a survey using the "Polls" tool in Sakai.

Sakai "Tests & Quizzes": This robust testing tool can also be used to create surveys with any type of question - rating scales, multiple choice, comment boxes, etc. This is a more difficult tool to use than the Sakai "polls" tool. Surveys take longer to set up, but you can save and reuse them from semester to semester. Read how to create a survey in the "Tests & Quizzes" tool in Sakai.

Blackboard "Tests, Surveys, and Pools": (Newark only) Instructors using the Blackboard platform for their course site can quickly add a survey to the current course materials. Read how to create a survey in the "Tests, Surveys, and Pools" tool in Blackboard.

Google Documents "Forms": Recommended. Easy to use, quick to set up, and handles many question types (scales, comments, multiple choice, etc.). You can use your own Google account, or a Rutgers ScarletMail account. Read how to create a survey in Google Documents.

SALGsite.org: The "Student Assessment of their Learning Gains" allows you to create a surveys based on a premade template focusing on the degree to which a course has enabled student learning. You can modify the existing questions or add your own. SALG can be used for pre- and post-testing, or for midcourse surveys. SALGsite.org