Program on the Environment

Surveys are one of, if not the most popular data collection methods. They provide decision makers with a lot of information in a relatively quick amount of time. However, surveys have flaws, and these flaws in survey design can have a big effect on the quality and validity of the information being collected. Through my work with UW Sustainability, on their sustainable choices survey (a survey intended to get information on people’s sustainable knowledge and habits), I analyzed both the data coming in from this survey, while also receiving feedback on ways the UW survey could be improved. A key finding I found was that most students who took the UW survey were in environmentally related majors. This lack of respondent diversity was a problem that I identified with the UW survey. Questions tended to be easier for these individuals, due to their environmental education background. So, when getting feedback on the UW survey, I wanted to find out how the survey could be improved, so that more backgrounds would answer the UW survey. I found that incentivizing the UW survey would be a great way to get more a diverse response rate. Also, adding questions on economic, cultural, and societal sustainability would get more people interested in taking the survey. With more backgrounds answering the survey, decision makers looking at the UW survey data would be able to make more sound, sustainable decisions on campus and beyond.