Senior Exit Surveys

[Mary Ann Harlan]

I am thinking about doing exit surveys with our seniors, and perhaps pulling in a random sampling for in -depth interviews. Does anyone do exit surveys? What types of questions should I ask - obviously I am interested in what they have learned about using the library, developing research questions, resources, evaluating information, etc. We don't do a senior project so this may be the best way for me to learn from the students.

[Joyce Valenza]

Mary Ann,
I do video exit interviews with my seniors each year.
Here are the questions I ask:

Questions for Interviews
What does a competent researcher look like? How would you rate yourself on a scale of one to ten as a researcher?
What are your favorite search tools? Databases?
What are your best search strategies?
How do you evaluate the material you find on the Web? How do you identify quality?
What does academic integrity look like to you?
Have any of our online tools helped you? (Virtual Library, pathfinders, documentation guides, WebQuests, thesis tests, etc.)
What worked best on the Virtual Library? How would you improve it?
Do adults have a role in guiding you through your research? Do you ever ask adults for help?
What strategies do you use to organize, analyze, synthesize the material you gather as you research?
Are you proud of the products of your research? Are there real-world applications for any of this work?
Do you feel prepared for college research?
Can you compare your experience researching at Springfield with your friends’ experiences at other schools?
What is the most important thing you learned relating to research?

[Mae-Lynn Smith]

Joyce-
Do you interview all of the seniors, a random sample, a selected sample, or volunteers? How do you compile the results? Have you used or considered a questionaire with a simple rating scale?

[guybrarian]

I was wondering the same type of thing. I wanted to borrow your idea Joyce, but simply ran out of time. We just signed out the last of our seniors today, and that took almost all of our time! You must start in the early spring!

[Mary Ann Harlan]

So I did a simple exit survey on paper this year, next year I will add interviews. I found some interesting things:
1. More seniors used the library than I thought, it was the year that most of them selected was their senior year, followed by their junior year. I always thought it was Freshman. I think that has to do with the idea that they are less concerned about seeming "uncool" by being in the library, more time in their schedule, and knowing me. Apparently I am scary to Freshman - they all tell me that when they are Seniors.

2. There is a disconnect between good researchers and how they rated themselves. Those who chose to add their names overrated themselves for the most part. Which is not surprising actually. I just need to think about how to address it. That disconnect showed up a number of times actually.

Mostly what I discovered is my own analysis and evaluation of my program wasn't wrong - the survey confirmed most of my thought and suspicions.

[Ellie Goldstein-Erickson]

Mary Ann,
I have thought about this since I saw a sampling of Joyce's video interviews during one of her presentations. Since my school started dividing into autonomous small schools and programs several years ago, I have become concerned about losing universal access to students. Some of the schools/programs build research into their curriculums seamlessly; those teachers bring their classes to the library frequently. Others rarely to never collaborate with me, even to have their students select books for sustained silent reading. Doing a survey would be a good hook to show how effective the library program has been throughout the school and identify areas that need strengthening.
One gratifying thing I have learned informally each year at graduation is how many students (in a school of 3200, 700+ seniors) recognize me as the librarian, even when I don't always know the name that goes with the face. I think one activity that contributes to this is that during 9th grade orientation, which I do with all classes, the students introduce themselves to me as part of their assignment. Following up on that would be a good way to expand the services.