A Reflection on Survey Design CEP 812

In CEP 812, I'm exploring this wicked problem: How might teachers redesign IB Diploma Programme Biology classes so that high exam results are a natural result of genuine inquiry?

Before diving into survey design, I revisited materials from CEP 822 about clear objectives and target audiences. This reminder was critical, because honestly, I spent most of my survey creation time just figuring out what I was actually asking.

Initially, I was hoping to get survey responders to answer the question, to provide solutions to it. But, as this question is very complex, it really isn't even possible for people to answer it in a survey.  After wrestling with this, I redirected: instead of seeking solutions, I'm measuring the scope of the problem. How many IBDP Biology teachers experience tension between exam preparation and meaningful teaching? How do they perceive the curriculum's demands?

Another issue I ran into: Since the intended audience of my survey are all "experts" in this rather niche field, we all share a common vernacular that is, unfortunately, quite jargon heavy. Although this goes against almost all survey design advice available on the internet and provided by my professors, I decided to keep it in since anyone who teaches IBDP bio knows what "IA", and "SL" stands for. And, to be completely honest, if they don’t know them, then they likely are not familiar enough with the course to have informed opinions about its implementation.

I also found it challenging to ask the "right" number of questions. Too many questions and the survey becomes redundant and scatterbrained. Too few and I'm not getting the information I actually want. I eventually organized questions into three categories (Curriculum Structure, What It Promotes/Assesses, Teaching Pressure) which helped me avoid overlap.

Additionally, I decided to include a section of open ended questions. But, before survey takers are directed there, they're asked if they're interested in answering optional open-ended questions. Depending on their response, they're either directed to the demographic questions or the short answer questions and then the demographic questions.

Take my survey here if you teach IBDP Biology

(*to my classmates in CEP 812 please just answer a short answer question with “CEP 812” so I know it’s you and not an intended survey respondent)