FAQ's for Project Directors

Sample:

Senior Corps

Accomplishments Survey

PROJECT DIRECTOR’S EMAIL NOTIFICATION

Frequently Asked Questions

A. PURPOSE OF THE EMAIL NOTIFICATION

1. Why did I get this email?

At least one volunteer station you work with has been selected to participate in the Senior Corps Accomplishments Survey being conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

You have been sent this email for three reasons:

• to let you know which stations you work with have been selected to receive the survey;

• to verify contact and service information about these stations; and

• to ask for your support in ensuring a high response rate.

2. Why is it is important for me to verify contact information?

We need to be sure that we have the most accurate information about the projects and the stations involved in the survey to be sure we are sending the right information to the right people. This will also facilitate following up with the stations as needed.

3. Why are you asking for verification of service categories?

The surveys will be customized for each station. Each station will receive only those survey questions relevant to its service areas. This saves time, reduces paperwork and makes participation in the survey easier than ever.

4. Why is a high response rate so important?

A high response rate is critical to producing an accurate and complete picture of our senior volunteer programs. And because it is impossible to survey every organization using Senior Corps volunteers, the selected stations will speak for similar programs that we could not include in the survey process.

5. When can I expect to receive the survey materials?

Once we receive your reply verifying contact and service information, a packet of survey materials will be sent to you by way of Federal Express. You can expect to receive a survey kit within five days of replying to this email.

6. What is my role in encouraging a good response rate?

As project director, your role is to help us get the surveys to the right person and to encourage timely participation by the station supervisors.

Once you receive the survey kit, we urge you to hand-deliver each survey to the selected station, whenever possible. If that is not possible, please send the survey to the station supervisor by overnight mail.

We also would like you to make a phone call to the station manager to let them know that the survey is coming and to explain how important it is for them to participate.

Your personal attention will help ensure that stations respond in a timely way.

7. Has the State Office been informed of my project’s involvement in this survey?

The State Offices have been notified about which projects and which stations in their state have been selected to participate in the survey.

8. How do I respond to this email?

The email includes 4 brief questions. You may reply by way of email, fax, phone or on the web.

Email: Simply click the REPLY button and then enter your answers directly into the spaces provided. When you have completed all four questions, click the SEND button.

Fax: Print this email, enter your answers manually and fax to 1-888-377-5716. PLEASE be sure to print legibly.

Phone: Call our toll-free number at 1-888-446-1292 and we will take your answers right over the telephone.

Web: Go online at www.seniorcorpsdata.org. Select English or Spanish, and then log in using your special username and password provided in the email. Then simply follow the directions provided for editing your profile. Once you click the SAVE button, your changes have been submitted.

B. ABOUT THE STATIONS SELECTED

1. Where did the information about the stations come from?

The station’s contact information and the service category information was sent to Senior Corps by project directors during the winter of 2002-2003.

2. One of the stations selected from my project does not have active volunteers at this time. How do I handle that?

Please mark those stations that do not now or have not had volunteers in the last year as “inactive.” Marking them as inactive is for the purposes of this survey only. It does not indicate that these are closed stations for any other Senior Corps purposes.

You will NOT be asked to substitute another station for those that are marked inactive. In developing the sample, we anticipated this situation and sampled more stations than we needed to account for those that are currently without volunteers.

3. Should the stations selected be a representative sample of those in my area?

The sampling method is based on a national sample. It is not designed to ensure that each project is represented by a cross-section of stations. On a national scale, the sample includes large and small stations, rural and urban stations, PFI and non-PFI stations, and those in various service categories. The survey results will be aggregated nationally and are not meant to reflect the variables of any one project.

4. Are all projects equally represented in the sample?

Different projects have different numbers of stations selected to participate in the survey, based on the relative sizes of the stations and the stations’ service categories. This is a natural result of the sampling process. In addition, Westat over-sampled stations working in some categories. Homeland Security stations, for instance, were over-sampled because it is a relatively new category yet a priority area for Senior Corps.

5. What do I do if a station’s work does not fit into one of the service categories provided in the verification email?

Given the range of work carried out by Senior Corps volunteers, it was necessary to reduce and group the categories in a way that would be practical for the purposes of the survey. These categories are based on those used in the Senior Corps grant application. Please make your best guess if your station does not neatly fit into any one of the categories provided.

C. ABOUT THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS SURVEY

1. What is the Accomplishments survey?

Through the Accomplishments Survey, the Corporation for National and Community Service is gathering information about Senior Corps volunteer programs that will help demonstrate to the public and to national, state and local stakeholders the great value of Senior Corps volunteers in meeting needs in their communities.

The results will be shared in a series of user-friendly national accomplishment reports that Senior Corps grantees can use to demonstrate the many contributions of RSVP volunteers, Foster Grandparents, and Senior Companions.

Senior Corps will also use some of the results to report information about the Senior Corps to the Congress – thus minimizing the level of additional information and data collection on its network of grantees.

2. What is the focus of the Accomplishments survey?

2004 Accomplishments Surveys will address two primary topics:

• The contributions of Senior Corps volunteers in meeting needs in their communities, and

• Ways that volunteer station supervisors manage and support Senior Corps volunteers.

3. Who is administering the survey?

The Accomplishments Survey project is being administered by Westat, a private research firm under contract with the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers the Senior Corps programs.

4. When will the results be released?

The Corporation will issue reports on the findings in Fall 2004.

D. THE SURVEY PROCESS

1. How were stations selected to participate in this survey?

Individual organizations (stations) were selected by a national random selection method from among all the 65,000 RSVP, Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion stations in the United States.

2. Is participation in the survey voluntary?

A high response rate to this survey is critical in helping Senior Corps demonstrate an accurate and complete picture of our senior volunteer programs. With your participation in this survey we are able to use the results to make a strong case to Congress and other stakeholders. The survey results will also support your efforts to promote and fund your programs locally. So, while individual involvement is voluntary it is important and we hope we can count on your participation.

3. Will survey responses be kept confidential?

The information provided through the survey will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone but the researchers conducting this study without the permission of the individual respondents, except as otherwise required by law.

4. How many other Senior Corps volunteer stations are being surveyed?

3,150 randomly sampled Senior Corps volunteer station supervisors: 1,850 RSVP stations, 650 SCP stations, and 650 FGP stations.

5. What is the deadline for completing the survey?

We are asking respondents to return the survey two weeks after receiving it.

6. How will respondents return the completed survey?

We ask that respondents return the completed survey directly to Westat in the pre-addressed, pre-paid return envelope that will be enclosed in their survey packet.

E. ASKING QUESTIONS

1. Where can I find additional information?

Further information will be posted on the Senior Corps website (www.seniorcorps.org) and the Senior Corps list serv (nssctalk).

2. Who do I contact with additional questions?

If you still have additional questions about the survey or how to complete it, please feel free to contact Westat:

• 1-888-446-1292

• KathyMorehead@westat.com

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