Rachel--some thoughts on the low return rate you are experiencing with surveys: If possible, definitely offer an incentive. They do work. Also, the best return rates I have experienced are when the teacher is asked to fill out the survey during the museum visit. In other words, don't let them take the survey home because it will get lost among all the other stuff they have to do. In general, with take-home surveys, I have had a 25% return rate. The highest return rates I have experienced are when we have distributed the surveys at the beginning of the museum program and told teachers that they would receive a gift when they returned the survey to the museum store. The gift can be something minimal like a poster or discount coupon for the store or, like you suggested, a raffle ticket for a free visit. In my experience, self-addressed and stamped envelopes do not make a difference when trying to get teachers to return things so don't waste too much money on stamps. Strike while the iron is hot and get the teachers to complete the survey on site. Good luck! Jessica Ruskin Education Coordinator Pretend City The Children's Museum of Orange County, Inc. 949-553-8790 ext. 105 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Rachel Ehrenberg Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 5:38 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: program evaluations My apologies for cross-listings... I am working with the education director of a small natural history museum to get an evaluation procedure in place of their group programs. The programs were developed for student groups (k-12) that come to the museum on field trips. They are led by docents, focusing on specific topics such as local wildlife and prehistoric earth. I am developing a survey for the teachers that bring their students to assess whether the museum programs meet their objectives, how the programs could be improved and to find out what is working already. I have gathered a fair amount of literature on evaluations and visitor surveys, and now I am appealing to the vast resource of the lists: Does anyone have a similar survey/evaluation that they have had success with and would be willing to send me? This is my first attempt at such a project and I am curious about they breadth of material addressed in survey questions (and what I may have missed!) I am finding reported return rates to be quite low, teachers: is there a threshold length after which it becomes too cumbersome to respond to such a survey? We are considering holding a raffle for a free museum trip for a class, entering all respondents; do such incentives usually work? Any other words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated, you may reply on or off list. Thanks in advance, Rachel Ehrenberg ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).