# Survey Research With Google Forms for Action Research

How to design a teacher or parent survey for DepEd action research: who to ask, how many, closed-ended items, Google Forms settings and response rates.

This is the Markdown copy of [Survey Research With Google Forms for Action Research](https://nash.com.ph/blog/survey-research-google-forms-action-research), an article on the NASH Reviewer Blog by Mark Anthony Llego, published Oct 28, 2026, updated Nov 4, 2026. Topics: Action research, School leadership. NASH Reviewer is an independent practice platform not affiliated with DepEd, BHROD, or NEAP.

Before testing an intervention, a teacher often needs to know how things stand: how many parents read with their children at home, how teachers use the reading assessment results, what learners think of a planned activity. That is survey research. The Department of Education's (DepEd) Action Research Toolkit presents it as one of three designs for the first stage of action research, "Assessing the situation" (section 3.5). Below are the design decisions the toolkit sets out, then the practical ones it leaves to you: who and how many to ask, how to write closed-ended items, how to build the survey in Google Forms, and how to get and report a good response rate.

It is written for teachers and school heads planning a survey for action research, and for anyone reviewing one.

## Key points

- **A survey describes; it does not test an intervention.** The toolkit is clear: there is "no manipulation of any independent variable in surveys", so a survey belongs to the preliminary stage, or to learners' reactions to an intervention.
- **In one school, survey every teacher.** The median public school has 9 teachers, and 90.2% have 40 or fewer, so a teacher survey within a school is a census, not a sample.
- **Parents usually need a sample.** In the median public school, with 232 learners, 145 completed responses give a margin of error of ±5 points, and 69 give ±10. The toolkit's survey rule of thumb, "close to one hundred", matches ±10 points for a large population.
- **Most items should be closed-ended**, as the toolkit advises: one idea per item, neutral wording, and options that cover every answer without overlapping.
- **Google Forms handles the mechanics**: Linear scale and Multiple choice grid for rating items, sections for skip logic, Link to Sheets for analysis. Do not require sign-in from parents unless you must.
- **Report the response rate**: completed responses ÷ people invited. Then check whether those who answered resemble those who did not.

## What survey research is in action research

The toolkit defines survey research as collecting information "from a sample in order to describe some aspects or characteristics of the general population", such as abilities, opinions, attitudes, beliefs and knowledge. Its example questions:

- What are the pupils' perceptions of behavioral problems in the classroom?
- What are the opinions of Grade 11 students on their experiences in Senior High School?

It suggests two uses in action research: finding out what intervention might work, and learning how students might respond to an intervention before you introduce it.

**Two types.** A *cross-sectional* survey describes different groups at one time, such as Grades 2, 5, 8 and 11 in the same month. A *longitudinal* survey follows a population over time, in three designs: a *trend* study (different samples from a population whose members change, such as each year's Grade 1), a *cohort* study (different samples from one fixed group, such as the Grade 1 batch of 2018–2019), and a *panel* study (the same individuals each time).

## Who to ask, and how many

**Define the unit and the population.** The toolkit calls the focus of the study the *unit of analysis*: a learner, a class, a parent, a teacher. The *target population* is the whole group you want to describe, such as all parents of Grade 3 learners in the school.

**Teachers: survey everyone.** In DepEd's SY 2023-24 school data, the 47,817 public schools with personnel data have a median of 9 teachers; 54.5% have 10 or fewer, and 90.2% have 40 or fewer. Only 1,130 schools have more than 100. A survey of the teachers in one school is therefore a census, and with 10 respondents each teacher is 10 percentage points. Report counts ("7 of 9 teachers") rather than percentages with decimals. A division-wide teacher survey is where sampling starts to matter.

**Parents: a sample, sized for the margin of error you need.** Cochran's formula with the finite population correction, explained in [Action Research Sample Size: Slovin, Power and Sampling](https://nash.com.ph/blog/action-research-sample-size-sampling), gives:

| Population | Learners (N) | Margin of error | Completed responses needed | Invite at 60% response | Invite at 40% response |
|:--|--:|:--|--:|--:|--:|
| Median public school | 232 | ±5 points | 145 | 242 | 363 |
| Median public school | 232 | ±10 points | 69 | 115 | 173 |
| Large school (90th percentile) | 1,087 | ±5 points | 285 | 475 | 713 |
| Large school (90th percentile) | 1,087 | ±10 points | 89 | 149 | 223 |
| Very large population | unlimited | ±5 points | 385 | 642 | 963 |
| Very large population | unlimited | ±10 points | 97 | 162 | 243 |

Three things follow:

- **Invite more than you need.** Divide the completed responses you need by the response rate you expect. The 60% and 40% rates in the table are examples, not DepEd figures; use your school's experience.
- **When the invitations exceed the population, invite everyone.** In the median school, ±5 points at a 60% response rate would need 242 invitations for 232 learners, so ask every parent.
- **Households are fewer than learners.** Siblings share parents. Count families, not learners, and ask each family once.

**The toolkit's rule of thumb.** It recommends a sample "close to one hundred (n = 100)" for survey research, and allows a purposive, smaller sample when the survey is only a preliminary assessment. For a large population, 97 responses give a margin of error of about ±10 points at 95% confidence.

## Writing closed-ended items

The toolkit notes that most survey questions are closed-ended "to facilitate the analysis of data". The common item types:

| Item type | Example | Google Forms question type |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Yes or no | Does your child have reading materials at home other than school books? | Multiple choice |
| One answer from a list | How many days last week did someone read with your child? (0, 1–2, 3–4, 5–7) | Multiple choice or Dropdown |
| All that apply | Who reads with your child at home? (mother, father, grandparent, sibling, other) | Checkboxes |
| Agreement (Likert) | "I know what my child's reading level is." Strongly disagree to strongly agree | Multiple choice grid, or Linear scale |
| Number | How many children in your household are in Grades 1 to 3? | Short answer with number validation |
| Open-ended (sparingly) | What would help you read with your child more often? | Paragraph |

**Rules for good items:**

| Rule | Weak item | Better item |
|:--|:--|:--|
| One idea per item | The take-home cards were easy and useful. | The take-home cards were easy to use. / The take-home cards helped my child read. |
| Neutral wording | Don't you agree that reading at home is important? | How important is reading at home for your child? |
| Options that do not overlap | 0–2 days, 2–4 days, 4–7 days | 0 days, 1–2 days, 3–4 days, 5–7 days |
| Options that cover every answer | Mother, Father | Mother, Father, Grandparent, Sibling, Other (specify) |
| A clear time frame | Do you often read with your child? | In the past 7 days, on how many days did you read with your child? |
| Words respondents use | How often do you practice shared reading? | How often do you and your child read a book together? |
| An honest way out | (no option for those who do not know) | Add "I don't know" or "Not applicable" where it is a real answer |

Write the parents' survey in the language they use at home, and test it on two or three parents before sending it out. For rating scales and their interpretation, see [Weighted Mean and Likert Scale Interpretation in Excel](https://nash.com.ph/blog/weighted-mean-likert-scale-interpretation); to check that a set of items hangs together, see [Validity, Reliability and Cronbach's Alpha in Excel](https://nash.com.ph/blog/cronbach-alpha-excel-questionnaire-reliability).

## Building the survey in Google Forms

**Question types.** Google Forms offers short answer, paragraph, multiple choice, checkboxes, dropdown, file upload, linear scale, rating, multiple choice grid, checkbox grid, date and time ([Google's guide to question types](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/7322334)).

- **Likert items:** a *Linear scale* runs from 0 or 1 to as many as 10, but labels only the two ends. For a five-point scale with every point labeled, use a *Multiple choice grid*: the statements as rows, the five labels as columns. One grid also keeps a set of related items together.
- **Required questions:** turn on *Required* for the items you must have, but not for sensitive ones; a respondent forced to answer may give up or answer at random.
- **Sections and skip logic:** put the consent statement in the first section, with a multiple-choice question ("Do you agree to answer this survey?"). Use *Go to section based on answer* to send "No" straight to the end.
- **Number answers:** for a *Short answer* asking for a number, add response validation (Number, whole number, between 0 and 10, for example).

**Settings that affect who can answer:**

- **Limit to 1 response** requires respondents to sign in to a Google Account ([Google's help](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2839588)). Many parents do not use one; leave it off for parent surveys and remove duplicates afterward.
- **Collect email addresses** can be off, verified or typed in by the respondent. Leave it off for an anonymous survey, and say so in the introduction.
- **Closing the survey:** set a close date or a response limit, or turn off *Accepting responses* when you are done.

**Getting the data out.** Under *Responses*, *Link to Sheets* creates a spreadsheet that fills as answers arrive, and *Download responses (.csv)* gives a file for Excel ([Google's help](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/139706)). If you share the form with a colleague, they may also see the linked spreadsheet.

**Not everyone is online.** Offer a printed version with the same questions in the same order, and enter the paper answers through the form yourself, so that all responses end up in one sheet in the same format.

## Response rates

**Response rate = completed responses ÷ people invited.** If you sent the form to 240 families and 150 answered, the response rate is 62.5%. Report it, with the number invited and the number who answered.

**Raising it:**

- Keep it short: a survey that takes 10 minutes or less.
- Explain in two sentences why you are asking and how the answers will be used.
- Send it when parents are already in touch with the school, such as during a parent-teacher meeting or when report cards are released, and offer the paper version there.
- Send one or two reminders.
- Ask the class advisers, who know the parents, to share the link.

**Checking who answered.** A low response rate matters most when those who answered differ from those who did not. Compare respondents with all invited families on something you know for everyone, such as the grade level or section of the child. If parents of Grade 1 learners make up a third of the families but half of the respondents, say so, and report results by grade level.

## Analyzing and reporting the results

The toolkit recommends frequencies and percentages for each item, graphs to present them, and the mode, mean and standard deviation for rating scales.

- **Frequencies:** in the linked sheet, `=COUNTIF(C2:C151, "Yes")`, or a pivot table for each item.
- **Rating items:** the weighted mean, with the median and the distribution, as in [Weighted Mean and Likert Scale Interpretation in Excel](https://nash.com.ph/blog/weighted-mean-likert-scale-interpretation).
- **Comparisons between groups:** for categories, such as reading at home by grade level, a cross-tabulation and the [chi-square test](https://nash.com.ph/blog/chi-square-test-excel-action-research).
- **Report the number who answered each item**, since some skip items.

## Ethics for surveys

- State the purpose, that answering is voluntary, and how answers will be kept, at the start of the form.
- Do not collect names, phone numbers or email addresses unless you need them; an anonymous survey gets franker answers.
- Surveys of learners need their parents' consent and the learners' own agreement; see [DepEd Action Research Ethics: Consent, Assent and Privacy](https://nash.com.ph/blog/action-research-ethics-deped).
- Keep the response sheet private, and do not paste responses with personal information into AI tools, which [DO 003, s. 2026](https://www.deped.gov.ph/2026/02/20/february-20-2026-do-003-s-2026-foundational-guidelines-on-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-basic-education/) prohibits.

## Common mistakes

- **Using a survey to "test" an intervention.** A survey shows what respondents think, not whether the intervention caused a change.
- **Double-barreled items** that ask two things at once.
- **Requiring Google sign-in** from parents who do not have an account, so that they cannot answer.
- **Reporting percentages without the base**: "80% agree" may be 4 of 5.
- **Leaving out the response rate**, or ignoring who did not answer.
- **Too many open-ended questions.** They are slow to answer and to analyze; one or two are enough.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is survey research in action research?

A design that collects information, usually by questionnaire, to describe a group's characteristics, opinions or practices. DepEd's Action Research Toolkit uses it for the first stage, "Assessing the situation", before an intervention is chosen, because a survey does not manipulate any variable.

### How many respondents does a survey need?

It depends on the population and the margin of error you accept. In a public school with 232 learners, 145 completed responses give ±5 points and 69 give ±10. The toolkit recommends close to 100 respondents where possible. For small groups, such as the teachers of one school, survey everyone.

### How do I make a Likert scale in Google Forms?

Use a Multiple choice grid with the statements as rows and the scale labels (strongly disagree to strongly agree) as columns, so that every point is labeled. A Linear scale also works but labels only its two ends.

### What is a good response rate for a school survey?

There is no fixed threshold. Report the rate, raise it with a short form, reminders and a paper option, and check whether respondents differ from non-respondents on what you know about everyone, such as grade level.

## More on DepEd research

- Start here: [DepEd Action Research Guide: From Topic to Report](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-action-research-guide)
- [Action Research Sample Size: Slovin, Power and Sampling](https://nash.com.ph/blog/action-research-sample-size-sampling)
- [Weighted Mean and Likert Scale Interpretation in Excel](https://nash.com.ph/blog/weighted-mean-likert-scale-interpretation)
- [Validity, Reliability and Cronbach's Alpha in Excel](https://nash.com.ph/blog/cronbach-alpha-excel-questionnaire-reliability)
- [Interview and FGD Guide Questions for Action Research](https://nash.com.ph/blog/interview-fgd-guide-action-research)
- [Coding Guide and Data Cleaning in Excel for Action Research](https://nash.com.ph/blog/coding-guide-data-cleaning-excel-action-research)
- [DepEd Action Research Ethics: Consent, Assent and Privacy](https://nash.com.ph/blog/action-research-ethics-deped)

## Sources

- Department of Education and the Basic Education Sector Transformation (BEST) Program. (2019). *Action Research Toolkit: Teacher's Guide*, section 3.5 (designing survey research for assessing the situation), with support from the Australian Government.
- School sizes and teachers: DepEd's SY 2023-24 school data (personnel and enrollment), cleaned by NASH Reviewer; see [Download Cleaned DepEd School Data](https://nash.com.ph/blog/download-cleaned-deped-school-data).
- Google. [Choose a type of question for your form](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/7322334), [Publish and share your form with responders](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2839588) and [View and manage form responses](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/139706). Google Docs Editors Help.
- Cochran, W. G. (1977). *Sampling techniques* (third edition). John Wiley & Sons.

*Analysis by Mark Anthony Llego for NASH Reviewer. NASH Reviewer is not affiliated with DepEd.*

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