W O R S H I P   T H E   L O R D
A School of Worship Enrichment
Overview of survey forms – form 3.2
The School of Worship Enrichment is designed to assist called and appointed worship leaders in WELS parishes in renewing public worship. Various tools are provided to gather and organize information for self-study, and eventually, long-range and short-range goal setting. These tools include:
1. 	Member Survey (filled out by members on two Sundays)
2. 	Parish Profile/Leader Questionnaire (filled out by a group of worship leaders)
3. 	Self-Evaluation Worksheet (to summarize your discoveries) 
4. 	Goal/Strategy Planning Sheet (for use at the School of Worship Enrichment)
Each of these tools will come to you with further explanation and instructions. Instructions for the Member Survey are below.
Of these tools the Member Survey and the Parish Profile/Leader Questionnaire are the most important tools. These gather information about practices and perceptions of the parish’s corporate worship life. Each must be planned thoroughly, administered accurately, and scored and forwarded promptly to WELS Commission on Worship office. The questions cover all aspects of parish worship life: use of rite and ritual; presiding and preaching; music; art and architecture. Assessment methods and analysis of the data are key to developing effective leadership strategies. Values of measurement or scores are designed to be meaningful and valid (that is, the intended variables are those actually measured) and reliable (the values are consistent in the degree of accuracy from one assessment to the next).
God bless your efforts at renewing and enhancing worship in your parish.

Instructions for Member Survey
Purpose
To obtain member input regarding all aspects of the public worship life of the parish.  To answer the questions “how do I feel about worship at my church?” and “what are priorities for improvement?”
Process
Careful planning of details for distributing and collecting the survey is important to obtaining accurate information.  
•	Reproduce the survey and pass it out at the close of Sunday worship (make it available for two consecutive Sundays. 
•	Survey details
1.	Emphasize that the opinions of each member are important, which is why everyone is being asked to take a few minutes to complete the survey.  Make special note that the survey is anonymous, and that each person is encouraged to be completely frank in his or her ratings and comments.  
2.	Make available enough surveys, pens and pencils for those who need them.  
3.	Invite people to leave on their own when they are finished, instead of waiting to be ushered out, and ask them to hand the surveys to an usher or place them in a centrally-located collection box.  
4.	Announce that the survey will be available for two Sundays, but that each member should complete only one survey.  
5.	Accept all forms (even those partially completed), and keep them in a folder for scoring soon after completion of the second Sunday of the survey.  
6.	Encourage your members to discuss the surveys, but do not give feedback about trends or preliminary results of the survey.  Those who hand in a survey and wish to later provide additional information may do so by providing additional written comments (do not have them fill out another survey form).
Calculating the Data
1.	If you use the Excel worksheet, skip to number 5.
2.	Count the total number of surveys returned (e.g., “145”).  Write that number in the upper right hand corner of a master copy which will be used for scoring individual questions.
3.	Mark the total number of responses to each question (e.g., “139” for question one; “141” for question two) in the left margin of the master scoring copy.
4.	Tally the total numeric value for each question (e.g., all the 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s).  Round any scores which fall between two numbers to the higher number.  Divide that number (“x”) by the total number of responses for that question to determine the average response value for that question.
	EXAMPLE:  For question one, there were 90 “5s”, 40 “4s” and 15 “3s”  (145 responses).
	(90 x 5) + (40 x 4) + (15 x 3) =
	450 + 160 + 45 = 655
	Divide 655 by 145 responses to question one:  655/145 = 4.5.
	5 is a strongly positive score; most questions are worded in such a way that scores of 4 or 5 reflect strongly positive responses for a particular question.
5.	List all comments in an electronic file (3.4) supplied for reporting.  (Discuss any concerns about unduly harsh or judgmental comments with Bryan Gerlach. Such comments are rare.)
Include the average scoring data described above. Return the electronic file to the Worship office as soon as possible and no later than the deadline. Send a single file attachment for tally pages and comments in Word or RTF format to cw@wels.net.  Keep a copy for your records.  The worship office will send you an updated file for you to make copies of for those attending the SOWE.

© 2002 WELS Commission on Worship. May not be used outside of a School of Worship Enrichment event without permission.