Raising awareness and finding out what people think - making use of a survey

Before proposing use of alternative energy sources and measures for reducing energy consumption, the local council needs to know the opinions of people living in the area. This cannot be done by reading books or looking on websites.

You must find this information for the council by conducting a survey of at least 50 people. The sample must be representative of the local community.

However, before you can ask people for their opinions you need to make sure that they are aware of all the issues by distributing an information leaflet.

The information leaflet should summarise the key information you have gathered about energy issues, but not be so long that people won't make the effort to read it. A 3-fold or 4-page leaflet using a double-sided A4 sheet would be ideal. You may use either word processing or desktop publishing software to produce the leaflet.

You must design a questionnaire to collect people's views. The questionnaire needs to be designed and tested carefully before approaching members of the public. You should consider what you want to know, how best to ask the questions and how you will record their answers. You must bear in mind that you will need to analyse the results of the survey using a spreadsheet.

At the same time, you must design a spreadsheet to analyse the data you collect. You should check that the spreadsheet works correctly and that it is possible to use it to analyse the survey data.

You must conduct a survey of at least 50 people in the community. It may be possible to work in groups - check with your teacher. You should collate the data and enter it into your spreadsheet. You should present your findings effectively, including charts as well as numerical data.