I need 40 more survey responses for my Year 11 coursework and I’ll even give you a virtual biscuit for doing it
I’m currently sitting cross-legged on the gross stained carpet of the sixth form common room, my blazer’s got a giant iced coffee stain on the left cuff I spilled walking to school this morning, and my sociology teacher just pulled me aside to remind me my NEA is due in nine days. Not that I’m counting. The actual essay part’s mostly done – I’ve got my introduction, I’ve sorted out the referencing that everyone keeps saying is so important, I even made a really cool graph on Google Sheets that changes colour if I click the right button. The only problem? I don’t have enough responses to my stupid survey.
I asked everyone in my form first, obviously. Half said they’d do it on the bus home and then never did. One guy filled it out twice by accident, so now I’ve got two identical sets of answers messing up my spreadsheet and I’m too awkward to ask him if he actually meant to do that, so I’ve just been staring at the two rows trying to decide which one to delete. My best friend Mia wrote “stop texting me to do this I’m in maths” in the optional comment box, which was funny, but didn’t exactly help my data set. I posted it to my Instagram story yesterday and got 17 responses. 17. Most of those were my mum, my aunt, and my 10-year-old cousin who just clicked random answers because he wanted the TikTok link I put in my bio. I checked his responses this morning – he said he uses TikTok 15 hours a day and thinks social media has no impact on his body image. Yeah, okay, mate.
My mum offered to post it to her Facebook group for local allotment owners, which is really sweet of her, but my survey’s about teen social media use and body image, so 50 responses from people who grow their own tomatoes isn’t gonna help my grade. I know, I know, I could just make up the data, right? Everyone says someone in their year does that every time. But I’m too much of a coward. What if my teacher notices? What if I get disqualified or something? I’d rather beg strangers on the internet than risk that.
The thing is, I hate asking people for things. It makes my chest feel all tight, like when you forget your lines in a presentation and you just stand there staring at everyone. I keep thinking people are gonna see this and roll their eyes, like why should I waste five minutes of my day on some random Year 11’s school project? But then I thought about it – last month someone in my chemistry class asked me to fill out their survey for their GCSE practical, and I did it in two minutes while I was waiting for my mum to pick me up after school. It wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t even think about it after. So why am I overthinking this so much? I don’t know. Brain’s stupid, I guess.
For what it’s worth, it’s super quick. 12 questions total, most are multiple choice, only the last one’s optional if you wanna rant about how much Instagram’s algorithm sucks. It’s totally anonymous, I don’t ask for your name or your email or anything, no one’s gonna spam you, I don’t even know how to send spam. It takes maximum five minutes. I swear. If you’re reading this and you’re between 11 and 16, that’s even better, that’s exactly who I need. But if you’re older and you just wanna fill it out for fun, that’s fine too, I’ll sort the data later.
I had such a dumb awkward moment yesterday when I asked the staff to share it. My form tutor said he’d put it in the staff newsletter, and then my PE teacher saw it on his screen and made a big joke about how “all you lot are always on your phones anyway, no wonder you’re all unhappy with how you look”. I just stood there nodding and grinning even though I wanted to say that’s not the point of my survey, I’m trying to actually figure out if that’s true, not just parrot the same old thing everyone says. But I’ve got my 1500m run practical next week, so I wasn’t gonna argue with the guy who’s marking it. Just smiled and walked away, my face all hot.
I spent three hours last Sunday redoing the whole thing because I accidentally deleted half the questions when I was messing around trying to change the colour of the header on Google Forms. I ate a whole tube of sour cream and onion Pringles while I did it, and then I felt so sick I couldn’t sleep. That’s the kind of stuff they don’t tell you about GCSE coursework, isn’t it? It’s not just studying and memorizing dates, it’s accidentally deleting your work and begging people to fill out forms and eating way too many Pringles at 9pm on a Sunday.
Anyway. This is a weird post, I know. I don’t usually post stuff like this, I mostly just post blurry photos of my cat napping on the windowsill and bad selfies of me and my mates at the town skate park. But I’m stuck, and I need 40 more responses to hit the sample size my teacher said I need to get a decent grade. If you’ve got five minutes to spare while you’re waiting for your bus or your coffee or your turn in the queue at the supermarket, I’d be so, so grateful. The link’s in my bio, I promise it’s not a virus or anything.
If you don’t have time, that’s totally fine. I won’t be offended, I get it, everyone’s got their own stuff going on. I’ll probably end up bugging my mum’s book club next if this doesn’t work, and just exclude all the over 50 responses when I do my analysis. It’s fine. I just thought I’d ask. Thanks, even if you just read this far.
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