NOTE: These videos were prepared when the Census at School Project was managed by Statistics Canada. Most of the information is still relevant.
Duration: 7:05 min.
This episode will give you a heads-up about how to answer any questions that arise.
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Hi, I am Angela McCanny. I’m a resource teacher with Statistics Canada and I have led hundreds of students in completing the Census at School survey.
Generally, completing the on-line survey is simple and straightforward for the students, but there are a few questions which come up repeatedly. So this episode will give you a heads-up on some of those questions so that you can answer the questions if they arise.
When the students log onto their computer, instruct them to open the internet and log onto www.censusatschool.ca. Ask them all to select Students in the left menu bar. The survey can be found at Fill in the online survey now.
However, before they go to the survey, they may want to try out one of the questions that would benefit from a little practice: the reaction timer. This question tests students’ reaction time by seeing how quickly they can click the mouse. On the actual survey, they will have only one attempt at this question, so it is good to give them a chance to understand the instructions and try out their mouse on this practice timer.
So, on the student page, select: Try the reaction timer. Follow the instructions. Click start. When you see the double circles – the infinity sign, – click Stop as fast as you can. Your score will appear. If the students want to try it again, click “refresh”. Once they have had two or three tries, it is time to close the practice box and go to the actual survey. You’ll notice that there is also a practice memory game, which is another question on the survey, but I find there is no need to try this one, as it will not pose any difficulty.
When they have clicked Fill in the on-line survey now, they will be asked to type in the Class ID number and Class password. These are the ones that you obtained, when you enrolled the class, under the orange headings on the Welcome page.
If the students are having trouble with this and the survey won’t open, double check that you have recorded the correct ID number and password. Go to the Teacher section. Sign-in with your teacher email and teacher password and check Class ID and Class password under the columns with orange headings.
Now, let’s do a quick preview of the survey to look at a few questions that might need clarification for your students. We are currently looking at the elementary questionnaire, but the secondary one is very similar.
At the very beginning of the survey, the students are asked for the province of their school. The answers are provided using a drop down menu. Click on the arrow, and drag down to the correct province. Click on it. Notice that the background for the answer is in blue. For all drag-down menu questions, it is important to then click on the white space on the page, to lock in your answer, and you will see that the answer background turns to white. If you don’t lock in your answer, some students have found that the answer box scrolls onto a different answer, giving them incorrect responses when the results come back.
Question 2 asks students for their birthday, giving the month of their birth using numbers. You may need to inform younger students about how to count the months on their fingers to find their month number. For example, January is 1, February is 2 and so on.
Questions 4 to 8 ask for the five body measurements that the students took before they started the survey. The first four are in centimetres, so the height, for example, might be 165.5 cm. Make sure to fill in the decimal place .0 or .5. Question 8 is the wrist circumference measurement. This is in millimetres and should be in the hundreds, so it might be 134 mm.
Question 12 on the elementary questionnaire and number 10 on the secondary is the reaction timer. Students get one try only for this question. Click Start then wait for the infinity sign, then click Stop as fast as you can. Your score appears in the box.
The next question, 13 or 11, depending on the questionnaire, asks about what the students normally have for breakfast. The options are given by food group and the students are to click all that apply. Question 20 asks about the pets they have, and again, they should click all that apply.
Question 23, or 21, asks the students’ opinion about the importance of various environmental questions and the importance of computer ownership. For each question, there is a slider: click the arrow, slide it to the right and release it, to show a score between 0 and 1000.
Question 24 asks students how many people usually live in their household. For students who live in more than one home, have them choose the household where they spend the most time. If they spend the same amount of time in both homes, have them fill it out as of today – the day they are filling in the survey.
The survey ends with a memory matching game and the students generally have no problem with this and have fun comparing their scores with others.
If at any point while a student is entering data, the questionnaire suddenly disappears, it is probably because he or she used the “backspace” or “delete” button to try to correct an answer. To get the survey back, immediately hit the “forward arrow” button and the data should reappear. If they click around some other way, the data will be lost and the student will have to restart the questionnaire.
At the end of the questionnaire, click Submit. It there are any errors or skipped questions, a notification will come on the screen. Correct the questions then click Submit again. You should receive the message “Thanks we received your answers. Alert the students that the webpage will reset to the Class ID and the Class Password page, so that a new student can complete the questionnaire. If this is not required, then they are free to go on to another activity. Some students will start re-entering their data and then you will end up with duplicate data entries.
One last advisory: the questionnaire cannot be saved partially completed. It needs to be finished in one sitting.
If at any point you need assistance, you can contact Census at School by clicking Need help? in the left menu bar. There is a toll-free number that is answered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, Eastern Standard Time. Or you can send an email to sos.@statcan.gc.ca and you will usually receive an answer within one business day. Also, if you have any comments or suggestions, send us a message and we would be happy to hear from you.
Enjoy the survey! And I hope the dataset your students are creating will provide for lots of interesting exploration in your classroom.