Why Can’t I Get People To Answer My Kid’s Survey For Their Politics Presentation? Practical Tips That Work
Last Tuesday, I found my 10th grader Javi leaning against our kitchen counter, half a sleeve of cheese crackers spilled next to his cold lemonade, scrolling his phone with a scowl. His end-of-semester politics presentation on local teen voting is due next week, and his core requirement is 50 anonymous survey responses from parents of high schoolers in our district. “I’ve posted in three PTA Facebook groups, the neighborhood parent chat, and my soccer team’s group chat,” he said, dropping his phone onto the counter with a thud. “I have 12 responses. Twelve. What am I doing wrong?”
I remembered my own high school politics project 20 years ago, when I just cornered 40 of my parents’ bridge club friends after a game and got my answers in an afternoon. But now, every parent’s feed is flooded with fundraisers, snack sign-ups, lost dog posts, and other student requests—by the time a random survey post scrolls through, most people just keep scrolling. We sat there for 20 minutes going through his original post to see what was off. His original post was: “Hey everyone, I need responses for my high school politics presentation. Please take my survey here! Thanks.” That was it. No context, no extra info.
First, we realized: people see “politics presentation” and immediately think it’s some pushy partisan thing that’s going to try to change their mind, or start an argument in the comments. A lot of parents avoid political content in parent groups on purpose, because they don’t want drama with people they see at drop-off every week. So Javi wasn’t just asking for a favor—he was asking people to click into something that might be contentious, with no warning. Second, he never said how long the survey would take. I’ve clicked on random survey links before that turned out to be 20 minutes long, and I’ve learned to skip anything that doesn’t tell me the time up front. Third, he never mentioned that responses are anonymous. A lot of people don’t want their political opinions tied to their name in a public parent group, even if it’s just for a school project.
So we rewrote the post together. The new version said: “Hi everyone! For my 10th grade government class, I’m doing a presentation on whether local parents support letting 16-year-olds vote in our school board elections. I need 50 anonymous responses to hit my project requirements, and I’d really appreciate your help. This survey is 9 questions total, all answers are completely anonymous, and it takes less than 3 minutes to finish. I’m only using aggregate data for my presentation, no individual answers will be shared anywhere. Link here. Thank you so much!” Then, instead of just posting it once to all the big groups and waiting, we thought of a couple of small shifts. Javi texted his soccer coach and asked if he’d share the post to the team’s parent chat—people are way more likely to click a link from someone they already know and trust than a random teen’s post. He also asked three of his closest friends to ask their moms to share the link to their own smaller book club and playgroup chats, instead of just spamming one big group.
Within 48 hours, he had 62 responses. That’s more than he needed, and he even got a few nice comments from parents saying it was quick and easy, no hassle.
This whole thing made me think about how these projects that feel like silly busy work actually teach kids stuff that textbooks don’t. A lot of parents (me included, sometimes) roll our eyes when teachers assign these presentation projects that require outside participation. But Javi learned more in that afternoon of tweaking his post than he did memorizing the structure of local government last month. He went in assuming people just don’t care about student projects or politics, and left realizing that most people do want to help—you just have to make it easy and low-risk for them.
The concrete tips that came out of this, that I’ve already passed along to three other parents whose kids are stuck in the same spot, are all really small, low-effort changes. First, always put the time commitment up front, in the first line of your post. Don’t make people click the link to find out if it’s a 2 minute or 20 minute ask. Second, if it’s a politics survey, be explicit about anonymity and that it’s just for a school project. A lot of people are wary of political surveys these days, worried their answers will be used for something else, so that one line removes a huge barrier. Third, don’t rely only on big public parent groups. Ask one or two trusted people in smaller groups (coaches, homeroom parents, activity leaders) to share your link—those posts get way more engagement than posts from people no one knows. Fourth, cut your survey to the bone. Javi originally had 18 questions, we cut all the extra ones that didn’t directly answer his core research question, and that kept it under 3 minutes. A shorter survey gets way more completed responses than a long one, even if it means you get a little less data.
Javi’s still sorting through his data this weekend, and he’s already noticed that local parents are way more supportive of 16-year-old voting than the national averages he found online, which is the whole point of doing his own survey, anyway. His presentation is Wednesday, and he’s a little nervous about speaking in front of the class, but he’s got his data, and he’s happy he put in the work to get it. Last night, a mom from my neighborhood texted me saying her daughter is working on a politics presentation about background check laws and can only get 18 responses, so I sent her the breakdown of what worked for us. It’s not a big, fancy solution, just a few small changes that make all the difference. We still don’t know how Javi’s grade will end up, but I think he’s already learned the most important lesson for this project: asking people for a favor doesn’t work if you don’t meet them where they are.
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